Come What May
by lilyfan06
Summary: Lily and James have one passionate night, but decide to hide it from their friends. But what happens when they get caught? And will Lily or James be the first to crack and tell their friends? Now in the postHogwarts era. Please R&R!
1. The Pool Party

Lily Evans awoke one morning in August to the shrill cry coming from down stairs. She had no doubt who had yelled, for only one person could scream like that; her sister Petunia. Lily hurried out of her bedroom to see what all the fuss was about.

She nearly laughed at what she saw: Petunia was running around the kitchen, screaming her head off, while an brown owl sat calmly as could be on the table.

The second Petunia had spotted her sister, she screamed, "Youཀ That bloody bird nearly gave me a heart-attackཀ" then nearly pushed Lily out of the way as she ran upstairs and slammed her door shut. Lily quietly walked over to the owl and took its letter. Just as Lily had suspected, it was from Hogwarts.

This year, Lily would be starting her seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with her fellow dormmates Alice Hart, Elizabeth Parr, and Dorcas Meadows. Of course, the infamous Marauders would be in their seventh year as well. Lily almost shuddered to think of what kind of pranks they would pull now that they were in their final year.

But Lily's opinion of the Marauders had drastically changed in the past few years. By the end of their fifth year, Lily had actually told James Potter, one of the ringleaders of the Marauders, that she would have rather dated the giant squid than him. But everything had changed last year; James had grown up. He had been the one that told Lily that her then boyfriend, Will Logan, was cheating on her. James had also been the one who had comforted her when she was upset about the whole ordeal. Over the last year, Lily and James had become friends.

Of course, you couldn't think of James without thinking of Sirius Black. They were best friends, and ringleaders of the Marauders. Sirius was closer to James than he was to his actual brother, Regulus, a Slytherin going into his sixth year. Lily had also heard that Sirius' had finally snapped and moved in with James' family only last summer because the Blacks considered him less of a person just because he was a Gryffindor.

Then their was Remus Lupin, the most reasonable of the group. He had been named a prefect in their fifth year along with Lily. Lily had known that he was a werewolf for a few years, not from Remus telling her, but because she had figured it out on her own. She had never told Remus that she knew; she had always figured that if he wanted her to know, he would tell her.

Finally, their was Peter Pettigrew, the final Marauder. Lily had never quite understood why the others hung out with him. Peter seemed out of place with the other guys; James, Sirius, and Remus were rather handsome (as much as Lily hated to admit it), tall, and very intelligent. Peter, on the other hand, was short, and probably would not have passed any of his classes had it not been for the other Marauders.

Lily opened the letter and a silver badge with _Head Girl_ written on it. Immediately, Lily jumped up and yelled "Yes!". All summer, she had been hoping to be appointed as Head Girl. Lily's mother, Sarah Evans, came in from the living room to see what her daughter was so excited about.

Lily looked a lot like her mother; she had her mother's eyes, oval face frame, and red hair. Petunia looked more like their father, Harold Evans, who had light blue eyes, blonde hair, and a long face. While these features were handsome on Mr. Evans, Lily often thought that Petunia looked more like a horse.

"What's going on, dear?" asked Mrs. Evans.

"I'm Head Girl!" Lily cheered with a huge smile on her face.

"Congratulations, Lily!" she said as she pulled Lily into a hug.

"What's all the fuss about?" asked Mr. Evans as he came down the stairs.

"Well, Petunia was hollering about an owl...And I got Head Girl!"

"How wonderful!" he said as Mr. Evans, too, gave Lily a hug.

Just then, the door bell rang. Lily ran to answer it, having a pretty good idea who it was. Once she opened the door, her suspicions were confirmed: there stood Alice Hart, Lily's best friend. Alice, with her long, light brown hair pulled back in a high pony-tail, was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a two-sizes-too-big sweatshirt and had a look of excitement on her face.

"Did you get it?" Alice asked without preamble.

Lily knew she was talking about whether or not she was appointed Head Girl.

"Yes!" and for the third time that morning, Lily was pulled into a congratulatory embrace.

Once Lily had broken away, Alice asked, "So what are you doing today?"

"Actually, I needed to talk to you...Well, really bitch to you about something..."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't really talk about it here, but let me get dressed, and we'll go for a walk or something."

About five minutes later, Lily was back down stairs in her favorite pair of jeans and a green sweatshirt. The two girls went though the back door, through the back yard and straight into the wooded area that the Evans' owned. Lily smiled to herself as she looked at the trail that she had created over the years. This was were Lily had always gone to clear her head.

After the two girls walked in silence for a few minutes, Alice said, "Alright, Lil, out with it...what's wrong?"

"This may sound really stupid, but..."

"But..." Alice urged her.

Lily sighed "Petunia and Vernon are getting married"

Alice gave Lily and confused look. "Lils...they've been engaged for a little over a year..."

"I know that," Lily said impatiently, "but...as bad as this may sound...I never thought they would _actually_ get married...I mean, I'd always kinda hoped that they would break up and she'd find someone not so...so...so much like her."

"You mean someone who doesn't hate you for being a witch?"

Lily looked at her sadly. "Yeah...Ya know, as stupid as it sounds...I'd always kinda hoped that she'd dump lard-ass Dursley and meet someone who was a little more open minded than those he is."

"How long has he known that you're a witch?"

"Well, the day after he proposed, my mum and I were talking about it and we thought he ought to know, so we kinda told him that night. And now he kinda has the same attitude as Petunia about the whole thing."

"Don't worry about them...your much better off without them. So when's the big day?"

"April 8, so I get to come home over Spring Break to go to glorious event. Honestly, you'd think this was a royal wedding by the way she's talking about it."

"But the good news is that we're going back to school in two and a half weeks!"said Alice, who threw her arms triumphantly in the air.

Lily smiled gratefully, "Good thing, too, 'cause I'm about to kill my sister."

They walked in silence further into the woods for a few more minutes. Suddenly, Alice said, "Oh, Lil, I remember what I was gonna tell you. James and Sirius are having a pool party while James' parents are out of town. Apparently, he's inviting pretty much every one from fifth year and above."

"So, basically, he told you to invite me so it wouldn't be _so_ obvious that he likes me, and he still gets to see me in a bikini?"

"That was exactly what I thought," Alice laughed, "So...are we gonna go?"

Lily looked away from Alice and at her shoes as she thought. It would be really great to see everyone from school again. And, who knows, maybe James didn't have a thing for her any more.

"When is it?" Lily asked.

"Friday."

"Yeah," Lily smiled, "lets go."

"Now you boys behave while were gone. When are the other boys coming over?" Mrs. Potter asked James and Sirius. It was Friday morning and Mr. and Mrs. Potter were about to leave for a much needed long weekend in the Canary Islands.

"Remus and Peter will be here in about an hour," said James.

"Just don't blow up the house, okay boys?" asked Mr. Potter. It was hard to tell if he was joking or being serious.

"We haven't yet" said Sirius, his mischievous grin in place.

"Have fun" said Mrs. Potter, hugging both James and Sirius.

"That goes for you too, you know" said James.

Once James' parents disapparated, James and Sirius immediately started getting everything ready for the party. About half an hour later, Remus arrived, followed shortly after by Peter. By noon, the guests had started to arrive.

"Lily! Alice is here!" called Mrs. Evans.

Lily hurried down the stairs to meet Alice, a large bag containing her swimsuit and a towel. Once they had said goodbye to Lily's parents, Lily and Alice apparated to James' house.

"Holy shit," said Lily once she saw the house, "This house is HUGE!"

Alice laughed as she pulled Lily up the drive. "I think it qualifies for manor, actually." The closer they got, the louder they could hear voices.

Shortly after they rang the doorbell, James answered the door in a pair of navy blue swimming trunks. "Well, if it isn't my two favorite ladies," he said, his most charming smile in place. Even Lily couldn't help but notice his toned body.

After a few minutes of small talk, Lily asked, "Do you have somewhere we can change?"

"Yeah, up the stairs, first door on the right"

"Thanks" both Alice and Lily said as they make their way to the room where James had said.

As they entered the room Alice couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Lily asked.

"This is James' room, Lily...don't you find it a _little_ funny that he wants you to change in his room?"

"Not really"

Alice started to laugh harder. "But now he can say that you were naked in his room!"

Lily threw her shirt at Alice and turned sightly red.

As they left the house and entered the back yard, Lily smiled to herself. _Only the Marauders could pull something like this off_, she thought. There were a good seventy people either in the Olympic-sized pool or sunbathing next to it. The girls spotted Frank Longbottom and went to talk to him. Alice and Frank had been dating for over a year and Frank, having graduated from Hogwarts the at the end of last term, was training to be an Auror.

The second Lily had stepped out of his home, James had spotted her. She was by far the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. With her long, dark red hair, stunning green eyes, and sensual curves in all the right places, and not to mention the black bikini she was wearing, Lily was irresistible. His eyes followed her as she and Alice went to talk to Frank. _What is the matter with me, _James thought to himself, _there are at least thirty other girls in bikinis here and I can only think of one. _

"You okay James?" asked Remus.

"Yeah," he replied, still watching Lily.

Remus followed James' site, and sighed, smiling slightly. "Your completely hopeless, Prongs."

James hit Remus on the shoulder "Shut it Moony"

"Why don't you just forget about her, Prongs?" said Sirius as he joined in the conversation.

"I wish it were that easy, Padfoot," he replied in an unusually serious tone.

"James is watching, you know," said Alice. She and Lily were laying on their towels, sunbathing.

"I figured" Lily replied, not even looking.

"Lils, I gotta ask you something, and I promise to believe whatever you say."

"Go on," Lily said slowly.

"Do you like James?"

"Only as a friend," but when looked skeptically at her, Lily continued, "Okay, I won't deny that he is extremely good looking, and has a great body, but that's what happened with Will; I went for looks only and that totally blew up in my face."

"If your worried about James cheating on you, you don't have anything to worry about,"

and when Lily remained silent, Alice continued, "and it's not like you and Will had sex er anything."

"It was the principle of the thing, and he was snogging with-"

"-that cow Rita Skeeter," Alice finished.

"Exactly"

By the time Lily got home, it was nearly midnight. When the sun had gone down and only the seventh year Gryffindors and Frank were left, they had decided to build a small fire, where they sat and roasted marshmallows for at least three hours.

But though most of the evening, Lily couldn't help but think of what Alice had asked her. _Did_ she like James? _No, _she told herself over and over again, _he's just my friend, and that's all. _


	2. The New Head Boy and Girl

A/N: Sorry for the confusion, but on the summary, it says that this story starts shortly before L&J second year, while it really starts before their _seventh_ year. Please review!

I'm sure you guys can figure this out on your own, but just in case you just landed on this planet, I don't own Harry Potter.

The New Head Boy and Girl

Lily arrived at Platform 9 3/4, with a feeling of relief spreading though her. She had just ridden all morning in the back seat of a small car with her sister. Most of the drive was passed in total silence. Normally, Petunia won't have come, but she and their parents had decided to get some things for the wedding taken care of while they were in London. (Lily hadn't bothered to ask what they were doing.)

Lily searched over the heads of the many students already packed onto the platform, looking for one of her friends. She felt someone tapping her on the back. She spun around and saw Elizabeth Parr, one of Lily's fellow Gryffindors. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and was slightly shorter than Lily. They immediately pulled each other into a hug.

After they broke apart, Lily asked, "How long have you been here?"

"I just stepped on the platform," said Elizabeth, "and with that red hair of yours, I knew it was you"

They slowly managed to drag their luggage into a empty compartment toward the back of the train.

"So, Miss Lily, I heard you were made Head Girl this year...Congratulations." said Elizabeth.

"Thanks...Hey, you haven't heard who the Head Boy is, have you?"

Elizabeth looked at Lily slightly confused, then her face cracked a small, mischievous smile. "You mean you haven't heard?"

"No...Who is it?"

"Who is what?" Alice, who came in to the compartment, asked.

"Lily hasn't heard who the new Head Boy is," Elizabeth told Alice.

As soon as she heard this, the same mischievous smile appeared on Alice's face.

"You _honestly_ haven't heard?"Alice asked Lily.

"No, honestly...now who is it?"

"We can't tell you that, Lils" said Elizabeth.

"She's right, we can't tell you...But it's too perfect"

Lily was about to protest when Dorcas Meadows, olive skinned and tallest of the girls, came into the compartment.

"What's too perfect?" Dorcas asked innocently.

"Lily hasn't heard who the Head Boy is," Alice replied sweetly.

"Oh..."and Dorcas, too, smiled.

"You guys all suck," said Lily, trying not to let her temper rise.

"Well...we'll give you a hint...think of the very, very, _very_ last person to be named Head Boy...and you're very close." said Elizabeth.

Lily thought silently. Who would she least expect? But before she could dwell on this very long, the whistle blew, and she realized that she needed to meet with the Head Boy-whoever he was.

She said her good-bye to her friends, and as soon as she turned the corner, Lily heard the girls burst into hysterical laughter, and though the noise, she heard Dorcas say, "Lily is gonna fucking _die _when she sees who it is!"

Lily made her way to the front of the train as it started to move, trying not to get too pissed of at her friends. _Who in the hell is this guy, anyway, _she thought. She had been so excited that she had been named Head Girl that she never even thought of who the Head Boy could be.

She opened the prefect's compartment smiled at a few of the familiar faces. The prefects train compartment was the largest on the train, with a long table in the middle so all the prefects could meet the Head Boy and Girl. She turned left and entered the a smaller compartment where the Head Boy and Girl got their instructions from Dumbledore.

Lily stared at the boy who was reading a letter, probably from Dumbledore. James Potter turned around to look and see who had entered the compartment. He smiled when he was Lily and said, "I figured it would be you"

"I gotta be honest James, you were not who I was expecting," Lily said, getting over the initial shock.

"I was just as shocked as you are, I thought Remus would have gotten it."

"So, is that from Dumbledore?" asked Lily, pointing to the letter in James' hand.

"Yeah...he says that we're suppose to introduce ourselves to the prefects, welcome everyone back, go over prefect duties, and he said to stress inner-house relationships," he added with a slightly doubtful look on his face.

"You don't think the last bit will work very well, do you?"

"Not with Slytherin, it won't," he sighed.

"You're probably right, but I guess we have to try"

"We're also in charge of deciding when Hogsmeade visits are, supervising decorating the Great Hall for Christmas, and organizing our graduation ceremony at the end of the year, and we are to meet with him after the feast,"

"It's gonna be one loaded year," said Lily smiling, as she sat down next to James.

"No shit," James agreed.

Lily took a deep breath, and asked, "So, should we go talk to the other prefects?"

"Sure," he replied.

Together, they walked into the prefects compartment. Lily felt herself involuntarily take a sharp breath. Her ex-boyfriend Will Logan and Rita Skeeter, both seventh year Ravenclaw prefects, were sitting together, holding hands. _They're still together, _Lily thought, _how could they still be together? _Lily had the sudden urge to either punch Will or Rita in the face, both of which seemed like a great idea.

She forced herself to look away. She caught a glace at Remus Lupin, who gave both her and James encouraging smiles.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lily Evans, and this is James Potter..."

Lily carried on for the next few minutes, explaining the prefect duties, and so on.

"Are their any questions?" and when no one asked anything, she continued, "Good, go a head and patrol for the next fifteen minutes or so, and you can find your friends and catch up"

Everyone got up to patrol, but Rita and Will lingered back to make it a point to kiss in front of Lily. Lily actually started to move forward, when she felt someone grab her elbow.

"Do you really want to do that?" James whispered in her ear.

She looked into his hazel eyes and, for some reason, felt much calmer. She took a deep breath and said, "Thanks"

"No problem" he smiled.

_He has an amazing smile, _Lily thought. _No, don't think of that! It's James, your friend, and nothing more!_

They rest of the way to Hogwarts discussing Hogsmeade weekends, decorations, and their graduation. When the train finally came to a stop, Lily and James stepped of the train and help direct the students, and a few absolutely terrified looking first years, were to go.

"Just follow that really, really big guy with the lantern, down there" Lily said to a first year for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

Finally, Lily and James got into a carriage that took them to the castle. Lily smiled sadly out the window. It was so hard to believe that the past six years were really in the past, and that this was the last year she would spent at this castle.

James and Lily met their friends in the Entrance Hall and they all walked into the Great Hall, towards the Gryffindor table.

Lily caught up with what everyone had been up to that summer. Dorcas and her family had gone to Italy to visit her aunt and uncle while Elizabeth's family had flown (the Muggle way) to New York to visit her grandparents.

Just as Lily was really starting to get hungry, Professor McGonagall held the frightened first years though the Great Hall to be sorted. Lily could remember how nervous she was before her own sorting.

The Sorting seemed to take forever, but it finally came to a close. Immediately, the tables were filled with, what Lily thought was, the most amazing food in the world.

While the girls talked of their favorite subject, boys, Sirius started on James.

"So, Prongs,"Sirius said quietly so the girls wouldn't hear them, "Is this the year where you finally get Lily, or have you given up on her?"

James glanced down at Lily. "I don't know...I guess we'll just wait and see"

"Well, you do know that the Head Boy and Girl spend a lot of time together," Remus said.

"Yeah..."

James, however, was spared by answering properly, for Dumbledore had risen to his feet. James could never exactly figure out how Dumbledore could do it, but he could make the whole hall go completely still just by standing.

"Welcome," Dumbledore began, "Welcome to Hogwarts! I need to warn you all that the Forbidden Forest is, just that-forbidden to all students, as some of the more senior students should do well to remember," his eyes rested momentarily on the Marauders before continuing, "On a more personal note, I need ever student that attends this school to do something, as a favor, for me: I need you all to have fun while you attend this school. The wizarding world is in great turmoil because of Lord Voldemort and his minions," much of those gathered gave an involuntary shiver as Dumbledore said Voldemort's name, but he continued, "I know that many of you have already suffered loses from him. The time that you spend in these protective walls may very well be some of the last happy days many of you will have. Enjoy them while you can.

Now, let us all go off to our warm beds and get a good nights sleep to be ready for our first day of term tomorrow."

As everyone made their way to their respective common rooms, Lily and James made their way to the staff table to meet with Dumbledore.

"Hello," Dumbledore greeted them, "I will make this short. Because of your positions, the two of you are able to use the special common room and bedrooms for the Head Boy and Girl. They are located behind the portrait of a princess, across the hall from the statue of the one-eyed witch. The password is 'chimaera'. Do either of you have any questions?"

James and Lily both shook their heads. After Dumbledore bid them goodnight, they made their way to their new sleeping quarters.

"So, how was your summer, Lily?" James asked trying to make conversation.

"It was okay. I didn't do anything too exciting. How was your's?"

"Well, since Sirius stays with me over the summer, everyday is interesting,"

Lily laughed and James' heart leapt. _How does she do that, _he thought, _She laughs and I go nuts. _

Soon after, they arrived at the painting of a princess in a beautiful blue gown. James said the password, and she admitted them.

Their common room was about a quarter of the size of Gryffindor's, yet it was still quite large for only two people. Their was a large, comfy looking couch and four squashy armchairs surrounding a coffee table next to the roaring fire in the fireplace on the right side of the room. On the left side where two desks. Straight ahead where two doors; the one on the left had a plaque that said _Head Boy _while the door on the left said _Head Girl. _

"Well, its been a really long day...I'm going to bed." said Lily.

"Goodnight, Lil"

"Goodnight, James"

They both went off to their respective bedrooms, and though neither could know it, both went off to bed thinking of the other.


	3. The Point of No Return

A/N: Okay, so the original chapter 3 has been bugging me for a long time, so I rewrote the last part of it, but the rest is the same. Hope you like it, let me now what you think!

The Point of No Return

The next two months passed very fast for the seventh year Gryffindors, what with their N.E.W.T. classes, homework, and patrol duty (not to mention the full moon). In fact, their work load was so immense that even Sirius was seen studying once. James probably had the most to do because, on top of everything else, this was James' second year as captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They had not lost the cup since James had joined the team as a Chaser in his second year, and he didn't plan on breaking the record in his final year. Lily often wondered how James had time to sleep at all.

They were all stuck in History of Magic, all ready to get out of the world's most boring class, which happened to be the last before the Halloween Feast. James, Sirius, Peter, Elizabeth and Dorcas were fast asleep while Remus was trying his best to take a few notes before he too fell asleep. Lily and Alice were busy writing notes to each other.

L: So are you meeting Frank in Hogsmeade tomorrow?

A: No, he couldn't get out of his damn training.

L: That sucks. Do you know when he'll be done?

A: I think by mid–July or something like that.

L: So I take it that you're going shopping with me and Elizabeth, then?

A: Guess so...Do you and James have to patrol tonight?

L: Yeah, right after the feast is over.

Alice glanced at Lily, who was smiling slightly, before writing again.

A: You don't seem to upset about it.

L: He's actually doing better than I would have thought. At first, I thought he would make me do everything, but James has been extremely helpful.

A: That's because he loves you, duh! And don't try to fool yourself; you like him too.

But Lily was saved from having to reply from the bell. Everyone gathered up their things and headed off to drop them off before the feast. James caught up with Lily, who were both going to the Head's common room to drop off their books.

"I don't know what it is about that class, but I just can't stay awake for anything," said James.

"Don't feel bad," started Lily, "The only way Alice and I stay awake is by passing notes to each other all period."

They finally got into the Great Hall to find their friends all seated together. Lily laughed to herself when she noticed that the two seats that were saved for her and James were right next to each other. Their friends had been trying to get them together since last January. Lily shot Alice a knowing look, but Alice only responded with an innocent smile.

About half way though the feast, Dorcas turned to Sirius and said, "You know, I can't believe you guys didn't plan a prank on Halloween"

"But that is exactly what everyone is expecting," said Sirius, "That's why were setting everything up tonight, and if you ladies go by the Slytherin dorms, which are in the dungeons, you'll see a sight."

All of the girls laughed. "C'mon, tell us what your doing!" Elizabeth said to James.

"I'm not in on this one, " he replied, throwing his hands in the air.

"Don't you give me that shit," said Sirius rounding on James, "_You, _Mr. Potter, where the one to come up with the idea, even if your not actually putting it into motion."

Once everyone was laughing again, James quietly asked Sirius, "You got the cloak and the Map, right?"

"In my trunk as we speak," he replied in an undertone.

000

"Do you have any idea what you're going to do after school?" James asked Lily as they climbed one of Hogwarts' many stair cases. They had been patrolling for nearly two hours, the past few minutes having passed in silence.

"I'm not sure," Lily replied slowly, "I would like to do something to help stop Voldemort, but I don't think I could see myself as an Auror...but I have thought about becoming a Healer."

James gave Lily the smile that made most girls weak in the knees. "You'd make a good Healer; you're a very passionate and caring person."

"Thanks" she said, blushing slightly, "What about you?"

"I'm probably going into Auror training after we graduate."

But before either of them could say anything, the stair case started to move quite unexpectedly. Lily lost her balance, but before she hit the stone steps, James caught her, securing his hands on her lower back as she flung her arms around his neck. They stayed this way until the stair case came to a stop.

Lily looked deep into his hazel eyes as James gazed into her bright green ones. After a few moments, Lily said, in a shaking voice, "Um...thanks for catching me...," as she started to pull away from James.

"No problem," he replied, trying to keep his voice steady as he unwillingly let go of Lily.

They walked back to the Heads' common room in silence. Lily crossed over to the coffee table, grabbed her copy of _The Daily Prophet, _flopped down on the couch.

James sat next to her and asked, "Anything besides death and destruction?"

Lily laughed slightly. "That's all that's in the damn paper anymore. I feel so helpless just sitting here and watching it all happen...Not to mention the fact that I feel like I'm going to be attacked every time I'm outside the safety of Hogwarts."

"All we can do is live our lives to the fullest because one day, we may not get the chance." said James, seeming much more mature.

And for the second that night, Lily found herself staring into his gorgeous hazel eyes. She forced herself to look away from those eyes and back to her paper, but she didn't read a word it said.

_What is the matter with me?_, she thought. _This time last year a couldn't stand him, and now I think he has gorgeous eyes! No...I will NOT fall for him! He's just an arrogant, bullying...sweet, kind guy who has had a crush on me for, like, ever, and...NO! I just need to go to bed and think things over._

She told James that she was going to go to bed, bid him goodnight, and stood up to go to her room.

James made up his mind in about a second...he had to do it, there was no way to get around it.

"Lily," he said, as he met Lily by his bedroom door. She turned to look at him. "Do you remember what I said earlier, about living our lives to the fullest?"

"Yeah," she said slowly, wondering where this was going.

"Well, there is something that I have to do, because if I don't, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

"What–" but before she could finish, James had grabbed her waist, and pulled her in to a passionate kiss.

At first, Lily was completely shocked, but then she couldn't help think that it felt right as her knees began to feel weak. She deeply kissed him back, throwing her around his neck for the second time that night. James steered Lily into his bedroom, and she allowed it. Lily had never done anything like this before, but she couldn't help but listen to her heart, which told her this was right.

The couple fell onto James' bed, snogging all the while. James kissed Lily's jaw–line, then the base of her neck. Before either could stop and think about what was happening, they were taking each other's clothes off and littering the floor with them.

James unhooked Lily's bra and flung it across the room. He lowered his head to her chest, taking her nipple into his mouth. Her hands raked though his messy black hair as a moan escaped though her lips, but he didn't stop there. His hands continued to roam her body for a while longer before he slid a finger into her.

Lily was writhing beneath him. "James..." she moaned.

He positioned himself at her entrance. As their eyes locked, he eased himself into her. She gasped slightly but nodded for him to continue. Their tempo started slow, but gradually increased until they were calling out each others names in ecstacy.

As their breathing returned to normal, James pulled her close. Her head rested on his chest, listening to his heart beat. The last thing she remembered was James kissing the top of her head before she feel into a deep sleep.


	4. The Next Day

A/N: Sorry that this chapter is kinda late. I had a huge research paper due and my ACTs are just around the corner (jdgal06...you know what I mean!). Anyway, I'm gonna try to update once a week, maybe a little less depending on how many track meets I have (once again, jdgal06, you know what I mean!) So...without further ado...

The Next Day

"Wake up, Moony!" Sirius yelled as he flung open Remus' bed hangings.

Remus glared at Sirius. "Padfoot, what the bloody hell are you doing up at" he looked at his bedside clock, "six o'clock in the morning on a _Saturday_?"

First of all, I really want to see the Slytherins' new wardrobes, but first I think we need to prank our new Head Boy."

Remus smiled slightly. "What did you have in mind?"

"An ice cold shower," Sirius said simply, but his infamous grin was in place.

"Do you still have the cloak?"

"Yup"

"Have you even tried to wake Wormtail up?"

"Yeah, but he said that he didn't want to go, so it's just you and me."

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius, and Remus were under James' invisibility cloak, on their way to surprise James, carrying a bucket of ice water. They quietly crept into the Heads' common room (James had given them the password the day after they had arrived at Hogwarts). Sirius and Remus walked toward James' room. Remus tried to open the door, but it was locked. But Sirius, who, like most guys, didn't have the common sense part of his brain, took out his wand and unlocked the door.

They slowly opened the door...

The first thing that Remus and Sirius noticed that there were a lot of clothes lying on the floor, some of which included a bra that most was not James'... And that wasn't the only thing that was more than a little weird...

Their was a certain red-head sleeping in the bed next to James, both of which looked naked, except for strategically placed sheets. At first, Sirius thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him. _That can't **possibly **be Lily, it just can't be, _he thought to himself, but their was not denying that it was, in fact, Lily Evans.

Sirius turned to quietly close the door behind him as James began to stir.

"Did you hear that?" he asked Lily, staring at the door.

"No,"she replied lazily.

But James continued to glare at the door. Lily turned to her right, exposing her bare back to the two invisible Marauders, to better see James. For a few moments, they lost themselves in each other's eyes.

"I really, really don't want to say this, but we probably need to talk about last night," James said.

"Yeah...your right...So, what so you want to do?" Lily replied.

"I definitely don't want to leave it as just a one night stand...I really care about you...But telling everyone is gonna be pretty hard,"

Sirius nearly snorted after James' last comment. If he hadn't actually seen what was happening before his own eyes, Sirius would never had believed it himself.

"Maybe...maybe we should wait before we tell everyone," Lily said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "I mean, we've both had very public relationships that have failed miserably. We could be a secret." After James remained silent, Lily added, "I know it won't be easy to not tell our friends, but we'd tell them eventually, once we can sort everything out between us"

James nodded. "Okay" he replied, as he leaded in to kiss Lily, who didn't object.

Suddenly, there was a swift knocking on the door. Everyone, all four of them, jumped.

"Potter, are you in there?" came the steely voice of their Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall.

"I'm coming" said an extremely surprised James.

"What the hell is she doing here!" Lily whispered wide-eyed.

"More importantly, what are we gonna do?" said James.

Lily glanced around the room. "Through on some clothes, give me mine, and shut the hangings"

James did as Lily said; after he dressed at top speed, he tossed Lily her clothes and shut the hangings. He opened the door to see Professor McGonagall.

"Can I help you?" he asked her, trying not to sound annoyed or like a smart-ass.

"I would like to speak with you and Ms. Evans in my office. Do you know where she is?"

James tried to look innocent. "She maybe in the library"

"As I said before, I need to speak with the two of you. Could you find her and the both ou you meet me in my office in about an hour?"

"Sure,"

Professor McGonagall nodded at James, and turned to leave. He held his breath, hoping she wouldn't turn and tell him something else. Luckily, she took her leave without another word.

James shut the door and walked back to his bed, still completely oblivious to two of his best friends hiding under his invisibility cloak. He opened the curtains to see a fully dressed Lily sitting on his bed, looking relieved. She slid off the bed and put her arms around James' waist, who did the same.

"I'm going to take a shower, but I'll met you in the common room in little while." Lily whispered into James' ear.

"Okay." He leaned down to kiss her soft lips. Sirius just couldn't believe, or understand what was going on.

As Lily left James' room, Sirius and Remus followed her. Once she had gone to her own room and shut the door, Sirius and Remus crept out of the Heads' common room as Remus made the bucket of water disappear with a wave of his wand. They pulled off the invisibility cloak and, without a word to each other, started walking to the Room of Requirement.

The Marauders had discovered the Room of Requirement in their fourth year while roaming the castle one night. And because they were pretty sure that no one, not even Dumbledore, knew of it, they had used it when they and researched and practiced how to become Animagi.

Once inside the Room of Requirement, Remus locked the door and turned to see a very confused-looking Sirius.

"What in the hell happened last night! I mean, I know that James has had a thing for Lily, for, like, ever, but what the hell crawled up Lily's ass to make her want to have sex with him!"

If Sirius hadn't been so pissed off, the whole thing would have been funny.

I know...it's very hard to believe. But their isn't exactly anything we can do about it," Remus said rather reasonably.

"Do you think he was serious about not telling anyone...not even us?" asked Sirius.

"Well, James has always stuck by his word..."

They were both silent for a few moments.

"So what should we do?" Sirius asked, sounding slightly desperate.

"There's nothing we can do, James and Lily don't know that we were even there...Until they come out and tell us, we have to act like we don't know."

Lily and James went into Professor McGonagall's office to find the professor sitting at her desk, grading papers.

"Sit down, this shouldn't take to long; I know the two of you are ready to get into Hogsmeade." She gave Lily and James a smile as they sat down.

"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to ask you two if you would be interested in organizing a dance for students in fourth year and above. It would take place the last night of the term, the night before the majority of the students will leave for Christmas break. If you two are willing, that is. And, of course, the prefects would help you, as well."

"Why couldn't Professor Dumbledore tell us this?" asked James, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Professor McGonagall chose her words carefully. "He is at the Ministry of Magic for the day"

Realizing he wasn't going to get a detailed answer, James turned to Lily. "What do you think?"

"Well, a dance would help inter-house relationship, which is something we've been trying to achieve, but its not working. I say lets go for it," Lily said.

"Alright, we'll do it,"

Over the next few minutes, Professor McGonagall went over the things that Lily and James needed to organize. Professor Dumbledore would book the entertainment, but it sounded as though everything else was up to them.

Lily and James met their friends in the Great Hall for breakfast, all of which were laughing at something that Sirius was saying.

"What's up?" James asked Sirius. There was something odd about the way Sirius was smiling at him.

"Well," Sirius began, "The bloody Slytherins fixed their robes before the rest of the school saw anything."

"What did you do to their robes?" asked Lily.

"We turned them neon pink" Sirius replied. Immediately, everyone started laughing again.

Once Lily and James had started eating, Sirius, hoping to catch Lily and James off their guard, asked them, "So why we you two so late to breakfast this morning?"

James tried to think of something, but Lily rebounded first, "McGonagall wanted to see us."

"About what?" Sirius pushed.

"There's gonna be a dance not to long before Christmas, and we have to organize it." She replied.

James glanced at his watch. "You know, we'd better get to Hogsmeade"

They all got up and walked to the village together. When they reached Hogsmeade, the boys headed towards Zonko's Joke Shop as the girls when off to go shopping.

Although Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth were talking and laughing with each other (as usual), Lily was not listening to a thing that they were saying and didn't really care. All Lily could think about was James and last night. She couldn't get the thought of how he kissed her out of her mind. But the other girls soon wondered why Lily was being unusually quiet.

"Are you alright, Lils? Your being very quiet today," said Elizabeth, her voice filled with concern.

"Oh,"said Lily, being pulled out of her sensuous thoughts. "I'm fine...I just didn't sleep very much last night." _Well_, she thought to herself, _it's not a **total** lie._

"So, James, did anything interesting happen last night?" Sirius could of kissed Peter for asking James that. Remus and Sirius has decided not to tell Peter about what they saw that morning.

"Not really...Our patrol was pretty boring" James asked, although her really wanted to tell his friends what had happened.

"What about after the patrol?" Sirius pressed him as he received a warning look from Remus.

"No, we just went to bed,"

Around midday, the Gryffindor seventh years met in The Three Broomsticks for a drink. They laughed together and talked about everything from the upcoming Quidditch match (Gryffindor vs. Slytherin) to the growing threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. More than once, Lily and James would catch themselves gazing into each others eyes.

But they had to be careful...They couldn't blow their cover...


	5. The Yule Ball

A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reviewing...and keep it up!

Nope...Still don't own Harry Potter

The Yule Ball

As November passed, Lily and James' casual sex relationship grew into a true romance. Unless they were in class or in Gryffindor Tower studying with their friends, they were usually alone, lying in each other's arms, or doing "other" things.

And except for Sirius and Remus, their friends were still completely clueless. Remus did a very good job of pretending not to know anything, while Sirius would often give Lily and James understanding looks when they would tell everyone that they had "patrol duties". This had unnerved Lily more than once. _What if Sirius knew someone?_, she asked herself more than once. But because Lily and James had been very careful about what they said, how they acted around each other, and where they messed around, their was only one way that Sirius could know; if James had told Sirius. _But Sirius surely would have said something to us, even if it would be to rake us over the coals, _she thought.

Lily walked into Charms one Monday after lunch in early December with a look that told everybody that, yes, she was upset and, no, she didn't want to talk about it. Although Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas looked questioning at Lily, no one said a word. They knew that if something were seriously wrong, Lily would have no hesitation in telling her friends.

But this was the one thing that she could not talk to the girls about: James.

Last night, they had been discussing about the Yule Ball that was to take place shortly before Christmas. After talking in circles for a good hour, they decided that they couldn't go together. Lily and James both wanted nothing more than to go with each other, but they also feared that their other friends would figure out that Lily and James were far more than just friends.

Lily had come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be able to go to the ball with the one person that she really wanted to go with, yet what truly upset her was that she had seen James asking a seventh year Ravenclaw to go with him shortly after lunch that very day. And just to make matters worse, James had asked Simone Lyn. Now most guys couldn't see the problem with this, but this was a very big deal to any of Lily's close friends. Lily and Simone used to be good friends when they started school...that was until Simone started dating a Slytherin in their fifth year, who would constantly call Lily a Mudblood. While most girls would have stood up for their friend, Simone did no such thing. The two friends had some very unfriendly words, and had hated each other ever since, even though they were coolly civil in front of others. Not to mention the fact that Simone was best friends with Rita Skeeter, who had been Will Logan's girl-on-the-side when he and Lily had dated last year.

Lily couldn't help but feel extremely jealous when she had accidently-on-purpose overheard Simone excepting James' offer. Simone was one of those girls that all the guys loved, and all the girls loved to hate. She had perfect blonde hair that never seemed out of place, big blue eyes, a great figure, and was very "gifted" in the chest area. Lily took grim satisfaction in knowing that she was even more "gifted" than Simone in at least one area.

Although Lily tried to hide how upset she was, Alice saw right through her sham. Usually Lily answered every question that Professor Flitwick asked, as Lily's favorite class was Charms. But today, Lily sat quietly through most of the period.

About half way though the class, Flitwick divided everyone into pairs to practice a difficult new charm. As usual, Lily and Alice were paired together. Once everyone started practicing, Alice was able to talk to Lily without interruption.

"Are you okay, Lil? You seem pretty down." said Alice once the noise level had risen considerably.

Lily looked sadly at her friend. She desperately wanted to tell Alice what was bothering her.

"It's nothing, really..."said Lily slowly, trying to think of a good excuse. "I guess it's just that the ball is getting pretty close and I haven't found a date yet"

Alice looked critically at Lily, knowing that this was not the full story. "I won't worry about it too much. I'm sure that some one will ask you"

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhearing" said Brandon Rhodes, a very handsome seventh year Ravenclaw. He about gave Lily and Alice a heart attack. "Lily, would you like to go with me to the ball?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw that James was listening intently. "Sure, that sounds great" Lily smiled.

As December faded, both Lily and James' schedules became even more hectic than they already were, because now they had the Yule Ball to organize right along with everything else they had to do. The prefects had turned out to be a huge help, and Lily knew that James was loving every minute of telling Snape what to do.

As the ball approached, all that anyone could talk about was the upcoming ball. It seemed as though every girl was talking about what their dress robes looked like and the guys tried to find last minute dates. Lily could have cared less; she was more concerned that her (secret) boyfriend would be going with what was quite possibly Hogwarts' biggest slut.

The seventh year History of Magic class clamored into Professor Binns' classroom on th last Friday of the term. Most of the students wee to leave Tuesday morning for Christmas break. The seventh years were all very excited because they were so close to a nice long break that they so desperately needed, but all the excitement seemed to die away once Binns started lecturing about goblin rebellions.

Lily and James were sitting in the back corner, in front of Alice and Elizabeth. About ten minutes after Binns started talking, nearly everyone fell asleep. James glanced around. Remus, Sirius, and Peter, all of whom were in front of James and Lily, were asleep. He couldn't blame them; only two nights ago was the latest full moon adventure. Behind him, Elizabeth was slightly smiling into her book as she slept and Alice had nodded off as soon as she laid her head on her arm.

James and Lily passed the hour quietly talking to one another. But finally, the class was coming to an end. Lily started to throw her book, parchment, and quill into her bag, when James leaned over and whispered in the seductively deep voice that Lily could never resist, "I want to kiss every part of your body and make love to you like no man has ever made love to any other woman before."

Lily nearly melted in her chair. But she wasn't the only one that heard...

Alice woke up just in time to hear James' comment to Lily. At first, Alice thought he was just kidding...that was until she noticed that Lily wasn't laughing. She had a fire – a passion – in her eyes that Alice had never seen before.

"You know," Lily began seductively. "Its going to be your fault if we get caught"

"Would that really be so bad?" asked James.

But before Lily could answer, the bell rang, and everyone left the classroom. Alice followed Lily, Elizabeth, Dorcas, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter down to the Great Hall in a state of shock. _How could this even be possible, _she thought. But as everyone ast down and started eating, Alice formed a plan.

"Hey, Lil, what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, why?"

"Well, I was thinking that we haven't had a girls' night all year. You should spend the night in our dormitory tonight and we can catch up on everything."

Lily walked into the Gryffindor common room just past nine. When the other Marauders saw Lily, it was their signal to meet James in the Heads' common room.

Lily walked into her old dormitory to see Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas with very serious expressions on their faces. Lily sat down on Elizabeth's bed and looked up at her friends.

"What's going on?" she asked, feeling confused.

"Lily, we need to ask you something..." Dorcas seemed to be struggling to find the right words; she looked to Alice for help.

"And we know that you've always been an honest person, so we promise to believe whatever your answer is..." said Alice. "Are you having some kind of more-than-just-friends relationship with James?"

Lily had known that her friends would eventually ask her this question; after all, her friends weren't stupid. She drew a long, steadying breath before answering "Yes,"

The other girls looked at Lily in total shock.

"What, did you guys think I'd deny it?"

"I did" said Dorcas.

"Me too" said Elizabeth.

Regaining her composure, Alice asked Lily, "How did this happen?"

It took Lily about an hour to tell the girls everything from the way she was attracted to James this past summer, to Halloween night, and everything after. And then the girls wanted details, about everything...that took the rest of the night.

Once Sirius, Remus, and Peter reached the Heads' common room, Sirius said to James, without preamble, "Look, we know that you and Lily have been having sex since Halloween, so just go head and tell us." Sirius and Remus had finally told Peter what was going on and they all decided to just talk to James about it.

James looked at his three friends in shock. "How did you know?"

"We kinda saw you two together" said Remus in an almost apologetic tone.

"How long have you guys known?"

"Remus and I have known for nearly as long as you two've been together" replied Sirius. "And we told Peter a couple hours ago."

James started to laugh. "Now I know that Remus could keep a secret, but how in the hell did you not explode from this, Sirius?"

Sirius glared at James. "Very funny, smart-ass." Then he too started to laugh.

The next day, Lily and James got all of their friends together and admitted everything, even though they already knew. Lily and James both felt a sense of relief now that their friends knew everything. But it did take them a while to explain why they couldn't go to the ball together, because they still didn't want everyone to know about them.

As the ball approached, Lily became slightly depressed about not being able to go to the ball with James, especially now that all their friends knew about their relationship. Lily had decided to get ready with Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas. Lily knew very well that if she and James got ready in the Heads' dorm rooms, they would be half-naked, only a room apart, and probably would not make it to the ball. Lily had deep, bottle green dress robes that brought out the color of her eyes. Alice's were lavender, Elizabeth's soft pink, and Dorcas' were light blue.

Since all of the Gryffindors had dates that were not in Gryffindor, they all walked down to the Entrance Hall together. While Lily searched the hall for Brandon, she saw James with Simone, who was giving James a hug. Lily glared at the pair of them until Brandon tapped her on the shoulder.

The seventh year Gryffindors and their dates made their way into the Great Hall to find a table. Once everyone was seated, Lily noticed that there were two extra chairs at their table. And as though on cue, Simone said, "James, would it be alright if Will and Rita come to sit with us?"

James looked quickly at Lily, whose eyes were the size of galleons, and said, "Sure, Simone."

Simone signaled to Rita, who came over with Will a little to quickly in Lily's opinion. _This night couldn't possibly get any worse. _Lily, who prayed that Will and Rita would not stick around once the music started, was convinced that that total bitch Simone had planned this out somehow. Once the feast began, Lily didn't say much because she was extremely unhappy sitting this close to her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

Finally, the food and plates magically disappeared. Lily was hoping that Brandon would ask her to dance, when Dumbledore stood up.

"If its not too much trouble, I would like to have the Head Boy and Girl to open the dance, with the prefects joining in half way into the song."

Suddenly, Lily felt like everyone was watching her. James got up, walked around the table to where Lily was sitting. "May I have this dance, Ms. Evans?"

Lily looked at James in awe. "Sure." They made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Lily took great satisfaction when she saw the extremely pissed off look on Simone's face.

James was, surprisingly, a good dancer. "You wouldn't have had anything to do would this, would you?" Lily asked. By now, the prefects had joined them on the dance floor.

"Did you honestly think I could go all night without dancing with the woman I love?"

Lily looked at James in surprise. "You _love _me?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while, now, and yes...I love you, Lily,"

Lily nearly cried. "I love you too, James"

The both beamed at each other for the rest of the song. Lily and James had planned on sneaking off to their dormitories as soon as possible, but it seemed as though it were impossible for James to get away from Simone; she wanted to dance every dance and be at his side the whole night.

Everyone was seated at their table, except James, Simone, Rita and Will, who dancing, when Brandon excused himself to get something to drink. This was the chance that Alice had been waiting for all night.

"How are you holding up Lils?" she said, her voice full of concern.

"I'm actually doing pretty good, beside the fact that I've had to watch Simone hang all over James and Rita hang all over Will all night" Lily replied, smiling slightly.

"I don't get it Lil," said Sirius. "What are you so happy about?"

Lily's smile only widened. "James told me that he loves me"

"What did you say?" said Elizabeth.

"I told him that I love him too."

All of the girls went "awww" at the exact same time. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were smiling at Lily.

But Lily's happiness was short lived. Suddenly, all of her friends were watching something behind Lily that made their jaws drop. It was the same expression Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas had when Lily had admitted her relationship with James.

Lily spun around in her chair and what she saw nearly made her sick: James was kissing Simone.

Without a second glance, Lily ran as fast as she could out of the Great Hall, towards the Gryffindor common room. She was unaware that someone was calling out her name.

_How could this be possible?_, Lily thought, tears streaming down her face. _I thought James was different, but I was wrong! How could that son of a bitch tell me that he's in love with me and ten minutes later he goes snogging with that total SLUT Simone!_

Lily only paused to give the Fat Lady the password into Gryffindor Tower. It was then that she realized that James had been running after her, and had nearly caught up with her. Lily threw him the dirtiest look she could muster, then ran into the common room, James still calling her name.

Because it was still early, just after ten, many of the third years and below were still sitting around the common room, but Lily barely noticed them. When she was about halfway to the spiral staircase that led to her old dormitory, James grabbed Lily's wrist, saying "Lily, let me explain"

But Lily never gave him the chance. She spun around and slapped him across the face with all of the strength she could summon. He stumbled back slightly, with every set of eyes in the common room on them. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Alice, Elizabeth and Dorcas ran into the common room in just enough time to see James get slapped.

Lily wanted to scream at James as loud as she could, but she couldn't find her voice. It hurt her just to see him standing there. Instead, she ran up the spiral staircase and slammed the door. Lily didn't even make it to a bed; she stood, shaking from head to toe, and collapsed in the middle of the floor, sobbing so hard that she could barely breathe.

In the common room, James was in a total state of shock. Remus grabbed him by the elbow and led him to a chair to sit down in.

Sirius glared at the ever-watching crowd. "What are you looking at?" he barked at the other students. They instantly stopped staring so openly.

"We're going to do some damage control." Elizabeth told the boys as she, Alice, and Dorcas hurried up the stairs to talk to Lily.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all speechless (which is really saying something for Sirius). They all felt terrible for James, and knew that what Lily saw was only half of what happened.

James was the first to break the silence. "I didn't kiss Simone." he said tonelessly.

"We know" said Remus comfortingly.

"Simone kissed me."

"We know" Sirius said.

"I'm in love with Lily...she probably thinks I'm the biggest bastard in the world, right down their with Will fucking Logan." James put his head in his hands.

"Hey, guys, lets go to the Heads' common room so we can have some privacy." said Peter.

They all stood up silently and walked to the Heads' common room. Once they arrived, James said, "Guys, I appreciate you wanting to be with me and everything, but I'm going to bed." And, without and another word, James went into his bedroom, and tried to sleep.

"Do you think we should stay for a while?" asked Sirius.

"Definitely." said both Remus and Peter.

Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas arrived in their dorm to find Lily crying her eyes out, her knees against her chest, sitting in the middle of the floor.

They swooped down on Lily, offering her kind words, and rubbing her back soothingly. But nothing they did made Lily's flow of tears slow.

"There's something that you need to know Lily," said Alice carefully. "James didn't kiss Simone."

"Oh, and suppose that their lips just happen to meet in the same place?" asked Lily though her tears.

"Lily, the truth is that Simone kissed James, not the other way around." said Dorcas as Elizabeth and Alice nodded their agreement.

Lily stopped crying and looked at her friends in disbelief. "Are you serious?" she asked.

Once again, they all nodded.

Lily stood up quickly, said "I need to talk to James" and ran out of the door.

Once in the common room, Lily couldn't find James, or any of the Marauders. _They could be anywhere, _she thought desperately, _those four know the castle and the grounds probably better than Dumbledore himself. _But she got the feeling that James was in the Heads' common room.

Lily slowly walked into the Heads' common room. Sure enough, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in around the fireplace. They were talking as quietly as though they were sitting in a dying person's room. She took a few steps toward them.

The boys looked around and relief spread across their faces as they Lily. "Is James in his room?" she asked.

"Yeah," they all replied.

Lily walked over to James' room, took a deep breath, and opened the door. James, who was not facing Lily, was sitting on his bed, staring out the window. He either didn't notice or didn't care that someone had entered his room. Lily closed the door, with the Marauders yelling, "Aw, come on, don't close the door!" behind her.

The yelling must have jerked James out of his thoughts; he turned around, slightly startled to see Lily standing before him. She walked over to his bed, sat down beside him, and held his hand.

"I'm sorry that I overreacted," Lily began. "I know that you didn't kiss Simone, and I know that you love me." More tears fell down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry too, Lils."

"For what?"

"For causing you to cry" He leaned in to kiss her, which told Lily how much he loved her more than words ever could.

Lily's hands raced across James' chest before they figured out how to take his robes off...

"Well boys," said Sirius, grinning at Remus and Peter. "I think it's safe to say that they'll be occupied for a good portion of the night. Let's get some sleep."


	6. The Car Crash

A/N: I know this chapter is kinda late, but my ACTs are done (thank goodness!) and this week is our prom week, so my next chapter won't be up until sometime after May 9th, but it probably won't be until around the 13th, give or take a few days. Thanks again for everybody's reviews, but don't stop now!

The "Car Crash"

Lily, James, and Sirius walked down to Hogsmeade on the first day of the break as snow was lightly falling on the streets. They were suppose to have taken the Hogwarts Express to London, but they all overslept (Lily and James had very a different reason for being late than Sirius), so they had decided to walk down to the village around midday to apparate home. Lily and James were planning on meeting each other sometime over the break.

Once she apparated home, Lily dragged her trunk up the drive. But Lily noticed an extra car in the driveway. _Oh shit, _Lily thought, _please, please don't let that be Vernon. _

Lily finally made it to her house. She opened the door without knocking, lugging her trunk behind her. "Mum! Dad!" she called though the house as she walked down the hall.

Then Lily saw her dad walking out of the family room, smiling down at her. Harold Evans instantly hugged his youngest daughter.

"What are you doing back so soon, Lily? We weren't expecting you back for a few more hours."

"Oh, well" Lily started to blush furiously – she obviously couldn't tell her father the truth. "I kinda slept in this morning, so I just walked into Hogsmeade and disapparated from there." She really hoped he'd buy it.

"Listen, Lily, you need to be forewarned before you go there," he said in a whisper, gesturing to the living room behind him.

"I take it Vernon's here," said Lily dully. Both her and her father had the same feeling towards Vernon – that is that they both disliked him. But while Lily could barely stand to be in the same room with that fat-ass for more than two minutes, Mr. Evans had somehow found the secret way to tolerate Vernon Dursley.

"Not only that" he continued in a whisper. "But he brought his sister, Marge."

"Thanks for the warning" Lily said sarcastically.

"But first, lets put your trunk away to buy us some time" said Mr. Evans with a wink.

They walked as slowly as they dared up the stairs, into Lily's room and back into the living room. She took a deep breath as she entered the room.

Just as she had expected, Petunia and Vernon simply glared at Lily. Then Lily saw who must be Vernon's sister. She was a large, beefy woman with very little neck that greatly resembled her brother.

Mrs. Evans stood up and hugged her daughter. "I'm so glad to have you home sweetheart." Once Mrs. Evans released her daughter, her turned to Vernon's sister. "Lily, this is Vernon's sister, Marge."

After a quick introduction, Lily realized how very much like Vernon Marge really was. She had the same snooty attitude that Vernon had.

Lily spent the rest of the day receiving dirty looks from Petunia and having to listen to how absolutely _wonderful_ Vernon and Marge were. Apparently, Vernon had just gotten some job with some company that made drills or something like that and Marge raised some kind of dogs – bull dogs maybe.

Lily spent the rest of the day thinking of some way to get out of this. Maybe James would send her an owl asking her to come and visit him. But apparently, when she thought of James, a stupid grin unknowing came across Lily's face; soon Marge started glaring at Lily too.

But apparently, Lily's father became bored with the conversation as well. Mr. Evans turned to his daughter and asked her, "So, Lily, what have you been up to at school?"

Lily started to turn a bright shade of red. "Well...I'm kinda dating someone"

"Well, tell us about him!" said Mrs. Evans, sounding rather excited.

"His name is James Potter, he's very smart, funny, and extremely good looking," Lily said, with a small smile.

"Isn't he that horrid boy that you were complaining about only two summers ago?" said Petunia snobbishly.

Lily turned a deeper shade of red and threw Petunia a nasty look that told, quite plainly, her to mind her own damn business. "You know Petunia, some people can change for the better" Lily said, sounding like she was talking to a three year old.

Mr. Evans, seeing that this conversation could only end with his two daughters screaming at each other from opposite ends of the room (not to mention that Lily may hex Petunia), hastily asked, "So, Marge, where did you say that you lived, again?"

The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slow for Lily. She had to endure Petunia, Vernon, and Marge rant and rave about this and that. But the most important topic for most of the day was the larger than life Evans–Dursley wedding. From the bits and pieces of the conversation that she caught (when she was actually listening), Lily understood that Petunia wanted everything pink, from everything to the bridesmaid dresses, to the flowers, to the cake. And because pink clashed so horribly with Lily's bright red hair, she was thankful that she wasn't asked to be a bridesmaid. Lily had worried that her mother would force Petunia into making Lily a bridesmaid, if not the maid-of-honor.

Today had been the longest amount of time Lily had spent with Petunia and Vernon, and she didn't understand their relationship at all. They just sat next to each other all night, no physical contact of any kind. Vernon hadn't even kissed Petunia as they said good night. Maybe they just didn't show any affection because they were around Mr. and Mrs. Evans, but they were acting like an old married couple and they weren't even married yet! Petunia and Vernon simply didn't have any heat in their relationship what so ever; they were very unlike Lily and James. Even when Lily and James were just hanging out in the Heads' common room, they were always making some kind of contact.

Finally, Lily could sneak off to her room after Vernon and Marge left. She flopped down on her bed and was considering writing to James when she heard a soft tapping on her window. A large, snowy white owl that she knew was James' was trying to get in her room. She quickly got off her bed and opened the window. Lily took the note off the owl's leg and read it.

_Lily, _

_What are you doing on Christmas Eve? I asked my parents and they said it would be okay if you wanted to come over sometime during the day. Oh, yeah, and Sirius says it's okay for you to come over, too. Anyway, let me know._

_James _

Lily quickly ran down the stairs to talk to her parents. She found them sitting at the kitchen table, having a cup of tea.

"Mum, can I ask you something?"

"Sure dear"

"Can I go over to James' on Christmas Eve?"

"What do you think, Harold?" Mrs. Evans asked her husband.

"I'm not sure Sarah, I mean, we've never even met this boy"

"Look, you guys made me put up with Vernon and his sister all day and I didn't even get into a fight with Petunia once! Can't this be a reward for good behavior or something?" Lily pleaded with her parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans still looked skeptically at one another.

"You can go if it's alright with your father," said Mrs. Evans.

"Please, daddy" Lily begged, turning her full attention to her father. Lily could almost see the answer forming in his head.

"I guess it'll be fine," he muttered. Lily kissed her father's forehead and ran off to write back to James.

"But your not spending the night!" he called to Lily as an afterthought, as Mrs. Evans rolled her eyes at her husband.

Lily woke up early on Christmas Eve, highly anxious about the day. From everything that she had heard about James' parents, Lily was sure that they were great people, but this didn't calm her nerves.

Petunia and Mr. and Mrs. Evans were to meet Vernon in Edinburgh to start looking for houses. Around noon, Lily disapparated to the Potter's house, which looked even larger and very forbidding than she remembered it from this past summer.

Lily took a deep breath before knocking on the door. James quickly answered the door, smiling.

"Hey" he said, ushering Lily inside. After a quick kiss, James asked, "So how's you break so far?"

"Well, the first day back, I had to sit and listen to my future brother and sister-in-laws and my sister talk about how great they all were. And, I got to hear every detail of the big wedding. Lucky me," she said sarcastically.

James laughed at her; he knew that Lily and her sister did not get along whatsoever. James led Lily into his kitchen, where Mr. and Mrs. Potter and Sirius were sitting. They all stood to greet Lily.

"You must be Lily," said Mrs. Potter, with a very warm smile that calmed Lily's nerves.

"Yes," said Mr. Potter, just as friendly as his wife. "James has told us so much about you." It was almost spooky how much James looked like his father; they had the same thin face, the same mouth, and the same eyebrows, even their glasses were similar.

The day passed rather quickly, especially with James and Sirius joking about everything. They were all sitting in the living room when the fireplace burst to life with green flames. Something was spinning very fast in the grate. Then the heavily scarred head of someone started talking to Mr. Potter.

"Daniel, I'm sorry about disturbing you on your day off, but there has been a big Death Eater attack just outside of Edinburgh, and we need all hands on deck for this one"

"No problem, Moody, I just need an address"

Moody gave Mr. Potter an address in Edinburgh before his head disappeared. Mr. Potter turned to his wife, "I wouldn't wait up if I were you, Marie."

"Just be careful, Daniel." She kissed her husband's cheek. He then turned to Lily.

"It was wonderful to meet you, Lily. I hope to see you again soon."

After everyone said their good-byes, Mr. Potter disapparated. His wife's eyes brighten as she muttered something about needing to get something from the kitchen.

Lily leaned over to James and asked him, "Your dad's an Auror, right?"

"Yeah," said James, almost sounding upset about it.

Lily's heart had risen in her throat when Moody had mentioned the Death Eater attack near Edinburgh: that was were her family was suppose to be today. _Maybe they're already at home_, Lily thought desperately. She glanced at James. He was staring into the fire, looking throughly upset.

James could feel her eyes on him. He looked into those gorgeous green eyes that were full of concern.

"Come on..." he said to Lily, "I want to show you something"

Lily narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but followed James anyway.

He grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs.

"Oh, fine, leave me here all by myself!" Sirius laughed at his friends.

James lead Lily up the stairs, down the hall, and into the first room on the right. As Lily had suspected, this was James' room. There was a four-poster bed in against the right wall, every bit as big as the ones at Hogwarts. There was a poster of James' favorite Quidditch team, the Caerphilly Catapults, hanging to the right of his bed. But what surprised Lily the most was the fact that James had a whole bookshelf full of Transfiguration books, many of which had to do with Animagi.

He walked over to his dresser and pulled out a palm-sized box, wrapped in shiny red paper.

"This is why I wanted you to come over today; I wanted to see you face when I gave this to you."

Lily took the box from James and unwrapped it to reveal a navy blue velvet jewelry box. When she opened it, she gasped. Inside was a white gold, heart-shaped and diamond pronged necklace. Lily looked up at James, her eyes wide.

"James, I – I don't know what to say – I – "

"Don't say anything. Turn around and I'll put it on you"

James took the necklace from Lily, who turned around. He moved her hair away from her neck; Lily shivered as his strong hands touched her neck. After James had clasped the necklace, Lily looked down at it. She turned around and threw her arms around him.

"I'll never take it off," she whispered before she kissed him. They kissed passionately before they found their way to the bed.

But their moment was short lived.

"James! Lily! You'd better get down here!" called Sirius.

"This had better be good, or I'm gonna be short one friend" said James through gritted teeth.

Lily laughed, "Come on...he didn't sound like he was kidding." Lily kissed his forehead. "We can always pick this up later" she said seductively.

Lily tried to fix her hair as she and James left his room and went down stairs.

There were quite a few people in the living room, many of which Lily didn't know. A wave of relief swept over Lily and James as they saw Mr. Potter talking with none other than their Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

Sirius found Lily and James almost immediately after they entered the room.

"Why is Dumbledore here?" Lily asked Sirius.

"I have no idea, but from what I've heard, it sounds like there were quite a few deaths tonight."

Lily could feel eyes following her as she, James, and Sirius crossed the room.

"Lily, could I have a word with you?" She spun around to see who was speaking to her, and received a shock to see that it was Dumbledore.

James did not follow Lily until Dumbledore added, "James, you should probably come as well."

Dumbledore led his two students into the kitchen, which didn't have anybody in it.

"You may want to sit down for this, Lily" Dumbledore began somberly. Lily and James sat down at the table, holding hands. "As you both already know, Death Eaters attacked a small, mainly Muggle town just outside of Edinburgh this afternoon. I hate to be the one to have to tell you this Lily, but someone must...Your family was in the attack"

Lily's breathing seemed to stop. The room was spinning. She tightened her grip on James' hand.

"What happened to them?" she asked, even though she was dreading the answer.

"Your mother, Sarah, sister, Petunia, her boyfriend, Vernon, were all subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. They are, however, expected to make a full recovery, and are currently being treated at St. Mungo's. They will have their memories modified to believe that they were in a car crash."

Lily's stomach tightened as she asked Dumbledore, "And what about my dad?" She feared that she already knew the answer.

He lowered his head somberly before looking into Lily's bright green eyes. "I'm very sorry, Lily...your father did not make it"

Before Lily could stop herself, tears were pouring from her eyes, and her head was buried in James' chest. His strong arms were wrapped around her waist, trying to comfort her. After what seemed like an eternity, Lily looked back at Dumbledore.

"I need to see my family" she said tonelessly.

"Of course," he said, nodding his head in agreement. "If you feel that you cannot apparate due to your emotional state, I will be more than happy to set up a Portkey for you, and if you would like, Mr. Potter and Mr. Black."

"I think I can apparate"

"Now, if you will excuse me, I need to have a word with Alastor Moody."

Almost as soon as the door closed after Dumbledore left, Sirius came in.

"Lily, I just heard what happened," he said. "and I'm really sorry"

Lily tried not to cry again. "Thanks Sirius"

With a lot of help from James and Sirius, Lily managed to get into the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Potter insisted that they go to the hospital with them, and since Lily really didn't feel like arguing, she allowed them to go with her.

Once inside the waiting room at St. Mungo's, Mrs. Potter asked the witch at the register where to find Lily's family. The group made its way up to the fourth floor, spell damage.

They reached the ward where Lily's family was, a Healer stepped out of the ward. She asked everyone, "Are any of you related to the Muggles in this ward?"

Lily stepped forward, "I am"

The Healer's voice seemed to soften. "Ministry officials have already modified their memories; they will remember tonight as a tragic car accident. The ward has been charmed to resemble that of a Muggle hospital. They should been released tomorrow morning, in the afternoon at the latest. Do you have any questions?"

"No"

The Healer gave Lily a kind and encouraging smile before she went to see another patient.

Sirius, Mr. and Mrs. Potter said they would stay outside while Lily and James went in.

Lily took a deep breath, grabbed James' hand, and opened the door. The Healer was right; the room looked exactly like that of a Muggle hospital. Lily was relieved to see that everyone was sitting up, although they did have a slightly glazed look about them. But this didn't stop Petunia from glaring at Lily when she entered.

"Oh, Lily," said Mrs. Evans when she saw her daughter. "Did the doctor tell you what happened?"

"Yes, the He – er – doctor, told me everything" Lily would have cried, but she was beyond tears at this point.

Lily suddenly remembered that James was with her. "Mum, this is my boyfriend, James. James, this is my mum, Sarah, my sister, Petunia, her fiancé, Vernon Dursley," said Lily, naming the people in the beds.

Under the given circumstance, Lily thought that introducing James to her mother went fairly well. Except for Petunia, of course. Once she received confirmation that James was, in fact, Lily's boyfriend and therefore a wizard, Petunia leaded over and whispered something to Vernon, then the pair of them glared at Lily and James the rest of the night.

Lily spent the rest of the night listening to what little of the "car crash" her mother could "remember". It was killing Lily to not tell her mother what had really happened, but she didn't have a choice.

Finally, at around eleven thirty, Lily's mother insisted that Lily go home and get some rest.

Lily and James found the rest of their party on the fifth floor, drinking tea. Lily told them that she was going to go home, but everybody protested.

"Lily, dear, you are not going to go home by yourself after all that you've been though tonight" Mrs. Potter was said kindly. "You can stay at our house tonight, and I won't have it any other way."

"Thank you,"

Once they got back to the Potters' home, Lily and James walked up stairs so James could show Lily where she would be sleeping.

"Hey, James," said Lily, laughing slightly, "Do you have a sweatshirt and a pair of boxers I could sleep in"

"I'm sure I could find something" he said, putting his arm around her. It felt great to see Lily smile.

They stopped in James' room so he could find something for Lily to sleep in. He then showed her the room across the hall from his own. It was every bit as big as James', and also had a huge bathroom connected.

"If you need anything, I'm right across the hall, and Sirius is in the room next to mine."

Lily suddenly threw her arms around James. "Thank you for everything"

"It's no problem"

She kissed him before they said good night.

The last thing that Lily wanted to do was sleep, so she went into the bathroom and took a long, hot bubble bath. While this did help calm her, she still wasn't tired. Lily tossed and turned in her bed for a good hour, but still could not fall asleep, even though she was exhausted both physically and mentally.

She got out of bed, walked across the hall as quietly as she could, and opened James' door.

Lily crawled into James bed. He woke up and did not look the least bit surprised to see her there.

"Can't sleep?" he asked her.

"No" she said sadly.

James gave her a small smile and wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her forehead softly. For the first time since she heard about her father's death, Lily felt safe and it was all because she was in James' arms. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep.


	7. The Surprise Couple

A/N: Sorry that this so late, but I've been unrealistically busy. Today was our last day of school, so I should have my chapters up sooner.

And I still don't own Harry Potter.

The Surprise Couple

That Christmas was the worst of Lily's life. After she left the Potters' home (at around ten on Christmas morning), Lily came home to find her mother and sister planning her father's funeral. And as if that weren't depressing enough, she desperately wanted to tell her mother what had really killed her father. She felt guilty, but how are you suppose to tell, no, explain, to a Muggle how some wizards kill innocent people? Lily had never told her parents about the threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She had been secretly believing that the terror that the wizarding community lived with everyday would never hit her family; but it had been false hope.

The funeral was held a few days later. James, Alice, Sirius, Elizabeth, Remus, Dorcas, and Peter had all come, and Lily was very grateful for it. She didn't know how she could have gone through it without her friends.

0000

The days until the new term started could not have gone fast enough for Lily. Her house had become grieving central for much of the small town in which she lived. Mr. Evans had been very popular, as he was the towns' local doctor. Nearly the whole town had been to the funeral, come to visit Lily's home, or both. Her home had become a small jungle form all the plants sent by fellow mourners.

Lily was relieved to be back on Platform 9 3/4. Through the break, her home had not felt like home without her father. But now she was back to what she knew: magic.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms grabbed Lily around her waist and pulled her close.

"Hello to you too James" Lily laughed.

"How did you know it was me?" he tried to ask innocently as he spun Lily around so he could see her better.

"Who else would it be?" she smiled.

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. "I love you" he whispered.

"I love you, too"

"You two better not plan on keeping this up for the rest of the year!" yelled Sirius from somewhere.

James and Lily turned to see Sirius, followed by Remus and Peter, laughing at them. They greeted each other warmly before they made their way to the train. As they searched for an empty compartment, Lily noticed a lot of girls give her odd looks as she passed. They finally found a compartment towards the end of the train where Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas were already in.

Soon after they entered the compartment, the girls took turns hugging Lily. "How are you doing?" asked Alice.

"I'm okay" she replied with a hint of a smile. Lily was very grateful for friends like hers.

"Now" said Elizabeth, turning to the boys, "you guys need to find a different compartment; we need to girl talk"

"What, like you can't talk in front of us?" asked Sirius.

"Trust me" said Alice. "You really don't wanna hear this"

"Try me" said Sirius stubbornly.

"Alright" said Dorcas. She turned to the other girls before saying, "Girls, I've been having really bad cramps late--"

"Okay, okay" said James, throwing up his hands in surrender. "That's enough! We'll go find a different compartment"

The boys grudgingly gathered up their trunks and left to find their own compartment.

"So how are you _really _doing, Lils?" asked Dorcas.

"Really?...I'm okay" Lily tried to sound confidant.

"How's your mum handling it?" asked Elizabeth.

"Horribly. I don't think she's stopped crying since it happened." Lily was quiet for a few moments before continuing, "I know this may sound bad, but I couldn't wait to get out of my house, I can barely take it anymore. I hate seeing my mum so upset. And Petunia certainly isn't helping any."

"What's she up to now?" implored Alice.

"She's just so damn self-centered, ya know? I mean our father is dead, and all she can think about is planning her damn wedding. And if I ever see the color pink again, it'll be too soon."

"What's wrong with pink?" asked Dorcas, slightly confused.

Lily laughed slightly. "She wants everything pink. Flowers, the bride's maid's dresses, decorations, everything. It's driving me mad!"

Though the rest of the way to Hogwarts, the girls caught up on everything. Alice had told her friends that her and Frank Longbottom had actually talked about getting married over the holiday. The girls went crazy at this news. They spent a good portion of the day talking about the many different ways that Alice and Frank could say "I do", none of which included anything pink.

Once the train pulled into the station, Lily and James had to direct everyone to the carriages. Finally, Lily and James were able to climb into a carriage by themselves. Neither of them spoke during the ride to the castle; Lily laid in James' arm while he ran his fingers through her hair.

They stepped out of the carriage and walked through the Entrance Hall. Lily paused at the marble staircase.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"I think I'm just gonna go lay down."

"Are you sure you don't want to eat something?" James sounded slightly worried.

"I'm sure, we had a lot of snacks on the train."

"Okay, I'll see you later." James kissed Lily's forehead.

"See ya."

Lily started up the marble staircase, feeling James' eyes on her all the while.

Ever since her father's death, Lily had wanted to be alone a lot. But often times, when she was alone, she would want to be with people. She couldn't make up her mind. And while it was true that she and the other girls had bought a lot of snacks from the trolley on the train, Lily had eaten very few of them. In fact, Lily hadn't eaten a full meal since her father's death.

Lily finally reached the Heads' common room. She lit some candles and took a long, hot bubble bath. It was amazing how much Lily could unwind by simply taking a bath. She changed into a shirt that she had stolen from James and a pair of comfy shorts and laid on the couch beside the fire place to read a book that Alice had given her for Christmas.

She had gotten pretty far in the book by the time James came in, absolutely beaming

"You are never gonna believe this" he said without introduction.

"What?" asked Lily as she caught James' infectious smile

"Peter has a date!"

"Really?"

"Yeah,...he disappeared for a while on the way here and he comes back saying that he's got a date this weekend"

"Who's the girl?" Lily asked.

"Josefine or something like that"

Lily's smile faded. "That's odd...the only Josefine that I know is that Slytherin seventh year girl"

"Nah, that can't be the same girl...Peter would never date a Slytherin" James dismissed.

Lily smiled again. "You know, this time two years ago I said I'd never date you"

"That's different" James dismissed as he sat next to Lily.

She wanted to tell James that he shouldn't judge people just on the house they're in, but, seeing as that would probably lead to a fight, she let it pass, and enjoyed laying in his arms.

0000

Lily and James entered the Great Hall the next morning, hand in hand. As Lily glanced at the students already eating breakfast and noticed something odd.

"Does anyone know why nearly every girl in fourth year and above are glaring me?" Lily asked as she and James sat down with their friends, except Peter wasn't there.

The other girls traded knowing looks. "We think we know" said Alice, as Elizabeth and Dorcas nodded.

"Why?" Lily felt very confused.

"When we were going home for Christmas break," began Elizabeth, "you know – when _you two_ were sleeping in–" she gestured at Lily and James suggestively "a lot of people asked us what was wrong with you at the dance and why James ran after you...We didn't give them the _full_ story, but we did tell them that you guys are together."

"But how does everybody else know?"

"Oh, come on Lil, you know how gossip spreads like wildfire around this place." said Dorcas. "Besides, and I don't mean to make James' head even more swollen than it already is, but you made one of the school's most infamous eligible bachelors unavailable."

Lily glanced at James, who was smiling smugly. She rolled her eyes at him before continuing, "So your telling me that this girls are just jealous? That's so dumb."

"Yes, they're jealous and, yes, it's very dumb" said Alice

"I know how to shut them up" said James, still smiling arrogantly.

"How?" asked Lily.

He never answered; instead, James pulled Lily into a kiss. But instead of shutting everyone up, the whole hall seemed to break into whispers.

Soon after, Peter sat down next to them, but there was a girl with long, dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes was with him.

"Guys, this is Josefine Anderson" Peter said, beaming.

Lily and the girls were the first to introduce themselves. Josefine seemed fairly nice, but slightly shy. _No wonder she's with Peter, _Lily thought. James and Sirius, however, didn't say anything at first. They had noticed the Slytherin emblem on her robes.

But before they said anything to Josefine, Sirius said, "James, I left my History of Magic book in the common room. You wanna go and get it with me?"

It didn't take James two seconds to get the hint. "Sure"

As they got up to leave, Remus caught on as well. "I'm gonna come with you. I left my parchment in the dorm."

As soon as they were out of the Great Hall, Sirius turned to his to friends and said, "She's a Slytherin!" James and Remus both knew they were talking about Josefine.

"You should give her a benefit of the doubt. Just because she's a Slytherin doesn't mean she's evil" said Remus reasonably.

"It's not just that." said Sirius, seeming to have calmed down slightly. "Did you see what Snivellus or any of the other Slytherin slime balls looked like when Peter introduced Josefine?" When James and Remus responded, he continued, "They all looked pretty pleased with themselves and they were lookin' right at us. Why would they be so happy about this?"

"That's a good point," said James. "But Remus is right; we can't attack her just because her house mates are a bunch of assholes."

0000

As the year continued, Lily and James' relationship wasn't the only one's to progress. Peter and Josefine spent nearly all of their time together. Sirius seemed to be the only one who was skeptical of the whole situation. _Maybe I'm just being paranoid, _he thought to himself more than once.

But then again,... maybe not...


	8. Discoveries

A/N: Keep up the great reviews! You guys rock!...And I still don't own anything that has to do with Harry Potter, even though I wish I did.

Discoveries

Lily entered Gryffindor Tower one Friday night in March slightly out of breath. It was nearly midnight. She had searched what felt like the entire castle for James, or any sight of the Marauders, but she hadn't found him. She walked across the room and sat down next to Alice, who had been watching Lily intently as soon as she came in.

"Still no sign of James?" she asked Lily.

"None what so ever, or Sirius, or Remus, or Peter." she replied in a discouraged voice.

"Well, the castle is huge, maybe you were just looking in the wrong places at the wrong time. And," she added in a whisper that only Lily could hear, "besides, tonight's the full moon; you're not going to find Remus" Alice and Lily had figured out that Remus was a werewolf in their fifth year.

Lily didn't reply; she simply stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace while Alice watched Lily's expression change from discouragement to confusion.

"Are you alright Lily?" Her voice was full of concern.

"I think that James is hiding something from me, but I don't know what it is." said Lily bluntly, still looking into the flames.

"Do you know what it could be about?"

Lily shrugged as she finally met Alice's eyes. "I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with Remus being a werewolf."

Alice was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Remus has been gone all day because he gets sick before the full moon. All day James, Sirius, and Peter have been excited about something. And every night that there's a full moon, all four of them are always gone."

Alice didn't know what to say. True, the Marauders had always been very secretive, but they weren't stupid enough to run around with a werewolf.

After while, Alice decided to go to bed and Lily made her way back to the Heads' common room.

The first thing Lily did was look in James' room to see if he was there. He wasn't there. Lily hadn't actually thought he would be there, but she still felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw his empty bed. She grabbed a book from her room, went back into the common room, grabbed a blanket, and curled up on the couch.

_I'll just wait for him to get back and ask him where he was, _Lily thought. But it wasn't long before she fell asleep, dropping the book on the floor.

000

James finally staggered back to the Heads' common room at around three. He was moving pretty slow; Moony had clawed the hell out of his back tonight. He saw Lily asleep on the couch. It killed him that he had to lie to her, but he had no choice. Once the Marauders had become Animagi over two years ago, they had sworn not to tell anyone their secret that, if everyone found out, could land all of them in Azkaban.

000

Lily awoke with a start the next morning.

"Shit," she muttered to herself as she ran her hands over her face, "I can't believe I fell asleep."

After stretching, she snuck back to James' room. There he was, sound asleep in his bed. If he hadn't looked so peaceful, Lily would have kicked his ass out of bed and demanded to know where he was. Instead, she shut the door quietly, went back to her own room, and got ready for the day.

Before she left to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Lily peaked into James room once again, and was surprised to see that he wasn't there.

000

"You look worried, Lil" said Alice as Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

Lily glanced around to make sure that no one was listening. It was just the two of them. "Something is going on with the guys; I just don't know what it is."

"Well, they're coming in now. Ask them."

Lily looked up to see James, Sirius, and Peter dragging themselves into the Great Hall. They all looked like they were going to fall over if someone were to just touch them. They sat down next to the girls and started to eat their breakfast silently.

"Where's Remus?" asked Lily suddenly, yet sweetly.

"What?" James had heard what Lily said; he was trying to buy some time.

"Where's Remus? He's not here, and I don't remember seeing him yesterday."

James caught Sirius' eyes. They made an unsaid agreement. "His mum's ill," he lied as he looked back at Lily.

"Oh," said Lily, who looked at Alice and raised her eyebrows at her while Alice nodded.

When the James and Sirius saw this, which is what Lily was hoping for, they gave each other slightly worried looks. _Good, _Lily thought_, let 'um worry. _

James opened his mouth to say something to Lily, but she was too fast for him.

"I need to go to the library and finish that Astronomy essay" she said sweetly before she kissed James on the cheek. She stood up, gave Alice a triumphant smile, and walked toward the library.

"What the hell was that all about?" Sirius asked James.

"I have no idea"

000

James caught up with Lily in the library.

"James Potter in the library on a Saturday? Now I've seen everything." she said as he sat next to her.

"Well, I'm pretty tired, so I'm not in my right mind,"

Lily smiled as she continued to work on her essay. James had pulled out his own book and had started on his when she abruptly asked, "Where were you last night?"

"Around the school" said James, not looking at Lily.

Lily didn't believe him for a second.

"It didn't have anything to do with Remus being gone, did it?"

James quickly turned and looked into Lily's gorgeous green eyes, and he knew that she knew Remus' secret.

"No," he tried to lie, but he knew it didn't work.

Lily turned back to her essay, trying to blink away tears. But she didn't give up that easy. She looked back at James, anger burning in her eyes, and asked, "Why are you lying to me?"

He looked sympathetically at her. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Lily, as he so obviously doing, but what choice did he have?

"Lily, I can't tell you, I would, but I can't."

"Why not?" asked Lily desperately.

"You wouldn't understand" he muttered.

By this time, Lily had had enough. Without another word, she gathered up her things and stormed out of the library.

She didn't stop until she reached the Heads' common room. Lily ran into her room locked the door, flung herself on her bed and thought over and over again about how absolutely dumb boys were.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door followed by, "Lily? You in there?" It was James.

"Go away!"

"Lil–"

"I said go away!"

Everything was quiet, then Lily heard James leave.

000

James walked into Gryffindor Tower feeling like shit. He saw Sirius, and (to his surprise) Remus sitting near the fire. He put on a fake smile and said, "Good to have you back, Moony"

Even though Remus was pale and felt totally drained, he gave James a small smile and said, "Thanks, but that fake smile bull shit won't work on us. What's wrong?" Behind him, James saw Sirius studying him.

He should have known that the guys would see right though him.

"Let's go up stairs" he said quietly. Sirius, and Remus stood up and followed James to their dormitory.

Once they were all in, Sirius locked the door. James looked around. "Where's Peter?"

"Probably with Josefine" said Sirius, his voice grim.

Remus, changing the subject, said, "Out with it Prongs."

James told them everything from that had happened today, how Lily had asked him what he did last night, how he thought that Lily knew about Remus being a werewolf, how he wouldn't tell her what he did last night, how she got pissed and stormed out of the library, and how she wouldn't even talk to him now.

Remus was the first to talk after James' story. "You need to tell her everything"

James looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"He's right" said Sirius. "You can't let something like this come between you two. You love her, and she loves you. I know we said that we'd never tell anyone, but this is different. And it's not like Lily's gonna go and tell everyone."

James still looked a little shocked. "Get out of here." said Sirius. "Go tell her!"

000

Lily was sitting by the window in her bedroom, watching the sun as it began to fall across the horizon. Suddenly, she heard someone try to open her door, but failed as it was still locked. She knew very well who was trying to get in.

"Lily" said James' voice from beyond the door. "I know that you're pissed, but I need to talk to you."

She didn't say anything, but took out her wand and unlocked the door. James took a few cautious steps in.

"Why did you lie to me?" she asked.

"I had no choice, but, after talking with the guys, we know that you wouldn't tell anyone, so I'm here to tell you exactly what's been going on."

He walked across the room, sat next to Lily, and started to tell the story he had never, or would ever, tell anyone else.

"Ever since we started school, Remus had been disappearing for a few days every month. He told Sirius, Peter, and I that his mother was ill and that he had to go and visit her, and we believed him...at first, anyway. But then we noticed that he was always gone the day of the full moon and the day after. In our second year, we finally put all the pieces together and realized that Remus was a werewolf. We confronted him about it, and he didn't deny it."

He had expected Lily to be shocked, but she nodded her head and said, "I know about Remus"

James looked at her, puzzled. She gave him a small smile and said, "You guys aren't the only one's to figure it out...Anyway, keep going"

James continued, "Well, during the next full moon, Sirius, Peter and I were all sitting in our dorm, feeling terrible. Remus had described how painful his transformations were, and we wanted to do something about. And then, Peter said, 'To bad we can't turn into animals'. He meant it as a joke; Sirius and I took it seriously.

Over the next three years, summers too, the three of us researched into Animagi, with Remus helping. And after far too many failed attempts to count, we finally did it during the first week of our fifth year. Now that we could transform, we were able to be with Remus during the full moons. At first, he was vicious, fought us all the time. But now, he hardly ever fights. We helped him become less dangerous."

Lily stared at him in disbelief. "That is so dangerous! What if Remus bites you!" But curiosity got the better of her. "What do you guys transform to? Does it have anything to do with those nicknames you guys have?"

James smiled slightly. "Remus is Moony. Peter is Wormtail, he's a rat. Sirius is Padfoot, he's a big, black dog. I'm Prongs, I transform into a stag."

"Show me" said Lily. She wasn't a hundred percent sure if he was telling the truth.

He stood up, walked to the middle of the room, and transformed in Prongs. Lily looked at the stag in shock. She walked up to Prongs and scratched his head. The stag transformed back into James, who took Lily's hands and placed them around his neck.

"Are we okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." she smiled, "We're fine."

"Good"

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to her bed.


	9. Graduation

A/N: This chapter goes out to the Mt. Olive High School Class of 2006. Only one more year guys!

And I still don't own Harry Potter.

Graduation

"Hey, Lily, isn't that your owl?" asked Elizabeth.

Lily, Elizabeth, Alice, and Dorcas were all in Lily's dorm and were suppose to be helping Lily pack, as she was to go home for her sister's wedding in two days time. But the girls had completely forgotten about packing and, instead, were sitting around having some serious girl talk.

Lily turned around. Sure enough, Lily's owl was tapping on her window with a note attached to its leg. She opened the window with a flick of her wand and her owl flew in and landed on her shoulder.

She looked at the handwriting on the envelope; it was written in the same cramped handwriting as Petunia's. Lily immediately tore open the letter; if it was something from Petunia, it couldn't be good news. She started to read aloud.

_Lily,_

_As you are fully aware, I will be marrying Vernon this coming Saturday, and we do not want you to attend. I know that Mum really wants you to be there, but I and Vernon think it would be best if anyone of your kind did not attend the ceremony. Please write to Mum and tell her that you are unable to attend. _

_Petunia_

The girls watched Lily in a sad silence. After a few moments, Lily finally said, resolutely, "Well, I guess I'd better write to my mum." She walked to her trunk, grabbed a piece of parchment, ink, and quill, and began to write.

When Lily finished the letter, she gave it to her owl, who flew out the open window.

Alice was the first to break the silence. "What did you say?"

"That I am staying to study for our N.E.W.T.s and that it's probably for the best the I stay home anyway." Lily was nearly in tears.

"Lily, are you okay?" asked Elizabeth softly.

"I'm fine" she said, but the tears in her eyes started to fall. "I'm being stupid, that's all. I should have known that this would happen. And besides, it's not like I actually wanted to go anyway"

The rest of the night was spent comforting Lily. She didn't know why she was so upset, after all, she hadn't had a civil conversation with her sister in seven years.

Over the Spring Break, the seventh years were so loaded with homework that Lily barely didn't have time to think about how much her sister hated her.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team, led by James, beat Slytherin for the Cup. The party that followed was that of Hogwarts legend. Somehow, and Lily didn't want to know how, the Marauders had managed to get twenty crates of butterbeer, and a few bottles of firewhisky, not to mention enough food to last the rest of the weekend. McGonagall had come to break up the party twice, but with no success. Each time, the students would go to their dorms, but come right back down a few minutes later. It finally ended when McGonagall was accompanied by Dumbledore himself.

Before anyone could believe it, the seventh years were stuck inside on beautiful, sunny days studying for their N.E.W.T.s. The girls were so stressed out, the guys hardly even bothered to talk to them.

As weird as it was, Lily was almost sad that the N.E.W.T.s were over. It meant that she was completely done with Hogwarts. For seven years, Hogwarts had been all that she had known, and now, there was a good chance that she would never see the school again. It seemed so hard to believe that the greatest seven years she's ever had were going to be over in a week.

The Admissions Department of St. Mugo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries had sent Lily an owl saying that she had been accepted for their Healer training program and that she would start on August 1st.

Because she was the top of her class, Lily had to make a speech at graduation, which was to take place on the school grounds on the last day the students would be at school. This had made Lily even more stressed because she hated speaking to a large group of people. Sure, she was fine in front of the prefects, but graduation was going to take place in front of a good few hundred people.

But much sooner than anyone would have liked, graduation was upon them. Lily, dressed in black dress robes like all of the other graduates, was toward the end of the line of seventh years, with James right behind her. As she walked down the aisle, she saw her mother sitting with James' parents. She smiled as she saw the obviously proud look that her mother had on her face.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it up to the seats designated for the graduates. Lily was seated in the front row, close the faculty that was to be speaking, with James sitting to the left of her.

McGonagall gave an introductory speech, saying that she was very honored to have been given the opportunity to teach everyone of these students, and so on and so forth. Lily wasn't really paying much attention; all that she could think about was that she was to give her speech as soon as McGonagall was done with hers.

"And now I would like to introduce Lily Evans, this year's Head Girl" said Professor McGonagall as she left the podium.

Lily took a deep, steadying breath as she approached the podium. She looked into the crowd and began.

"During the that very first train ride to Hogwarts, there was only one word that summed up how I felt: terrified. I had no idea what was in store for me. But from the first moment that I saw the Hogwarts castle as we rode across the lake, I felt calm. I felt like I had found my home.

"The seven years that I have spent at this school have, by far, been the greatest I have known. There are some memories that I know that we will never forget, like competing for the Inter-house Championship, and cheering on our teams at the Quidditch matches. And I know that both the students and the staff won't soon forget the many pranks that were pulled over the last seven years, most of which, were caused by the same four people." she paused and glanced at James, "You know who are." She turned back to the crowd.

"But those times are over, and we are all being thrown into the real world, which, as any adult witch or wizard can tell you, is a terrifying place. But do not think of today as the end: think of today as a new beginning. From this point on, _we_ choose our fate; _we_ make our destiny. We must not let certain forces confuse us into believing that they are right. We must stand up and fight for what we believe is right.

Congratulations graduates. We did it!"

Applause followed Lily's speech as she sat down next James.

"Glad that's over?" he whispered to her.

"You have no idea" she smiled back.

Next, Dumbledore stood and handed out diplomas. One by one, the students walked to Dumbledore, shook his hand, and received a diploma. When Lily took hers, she noticed what looked like an extra piece of paper sticking out of the side.

000

After the ceremony, meeting with everyone's parents, and what seemed like a million pictures, the Marauders, Lily, Alice, and Dorcas had decided to simply sit around the Heads' common room. Elizabeth was planning on it, but said something about some guy and hurried off in the other direction. Josefine, who was usually attached to Peter by the hip, had started hanging out with everyone less and less since Gryffindor had beat Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup (not that anyone but Peter was complaining).

They had just entered the room when Lily pulled out the extra piece of paper from her diploma. A note was written in narrow, loopy hand writing that read:

_Come to my office at eight o'clock. The password is 'lemon drop'. _

Puzzled, Lily turned to her friends. "Did anyone else get one of these notes in their diploma?"

It turned out that they all had one, and they all said the same as Lily's.

"Who are they from?" asked Peter, completely lost.

"It has to be Dumbledore; he's the only one who ever touches the diplomas" replied James.

They spent the next two hours talking about what Dumbledore could possibly want to talk to them about. Finally, the time came when they would ask him themselves.

000

After riding on the moving staircase that led to Dumbledore's office, James knocked on the door.

"Come in" they heard Dumbledore say.

They all filed into Dumbledore's office to find their Headmaster seated at his desk, which was surrounded by seven chairs, just enough for each of them.

"Please, sit down" said Dumbledore kindly.

After they each sat down, Dumbledore said, "I'm sure that you are all wondering why I asked you here this evening."

Their was a general murmur of agreement.

"As you are all aware, the threat of Lord Voldemort is growing everyday. I know that each and every one of you is not the type of person to sit back and do nothing when something like this is going on. I am giving each of you an invitation to join a secret society, the Order of the Phoenix, which I have founded, that will do all that it can to bring an end to the terror that Lord Voldemort is causing. But this is not a decision to be made lightly. The work that this society will do is going to be extremely dangerous, and you would risk nothing less than your lives nearly everyday. I will give you two weeks to decide, and I beg you to think carefully. No one will think less of you if you decide not to join. Does anyone have any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Very well. You may return to your dorms."

000

"Well, that was not what I expected." said Sirius. They were all back in the Heads' common room, discussing what had just happened.

"No kidding" said Dorcas, sounding slightly breathless.

"So, what do guys think?" asked Lily.

James was the first to answer. "Well, there's no doubt that this is gonna be dangerous, but if it helps stop this war, I'm all for it"

"But is it really worth risking our lives?" squeaked Peter.

"Absolutely" said Remus.

They kept talking about the possibility of joining the Order until five in the morning when everyone, even Peter, had come to the same decision: they were ready.


	10. Girl Talk And Guy Thoughts

Girl Talk And Guy Thoughts

Within the first to weeks of graduating, Lily had found a small, two bedroom apartment in the Muggle part of London, while James, Sirius, and Remus had found an apartment in Hogsmeade. If truth be told, James was over at Lily's more than he was his own apartment. The guys had planned on Peter moving in as well, but Mrs. Pettigrew would hear nothing of it. She kept ranting on about how she needed Peter at home with her and that he was still to young and irresponsible to live on his own anyway. Peter had told his mother that he wouldn't be on his own, but with James, Sirius, and Remus, but that didn't help any. Elizabeth and Dorcas had an apartment just a floor above Lily's. The three girls had all offered Alice a room in their apartment, but Alice said that she didn't need it, though she never said why.

But a few days later, Lily found out why.

Lily walked into her kitchen one morning and started to make a pot of coffee. She especially needed the caffeine kick this morning: she and James had been up very late the previous night. She sat down at her table with a fresh cup of coffee and started to shift through the mail when James came out of her bedroom rubbing his hands over his eyes, trying to wake up.

Lily smiled to herself; James looked as tired as she felt. "Good morning" she said in a bright voice.

"How can you be so awake?" he asked, helping himself to a cup of coffee.

"I'm not," she replied. "I'm as tired as you are, but I have to go to work in" she glanced at her clock on the counter, "half an hour, so I have to force myself to be awake."

"You don't fool me; you love working in that book store"

Lily smiled mischievously at James before taking another sip of her coffee. He was right; she loved her job at Flourish and Blotts. Lily's mother had offered to pay the rent for her apartment until she started to make a steady income as a Healer, but Lily refused.

"Speaking of jobs," said Lily, "How's your training going?"

James, along with Sirius and Alice, had started their Auror training a few weeks ago. As today was Saturday, their training was finished for the week.

"It's moving a lot faster than I thought it would" said James thoughtfully. "Since last year, they've changed the program to taking two years to a year."

"And whose genius idea was that?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Crouch, he thinks that the more Aurors there are, the better chance there is to stop Voldemort. And there are rumors going around that he's gonna give Aurors the power to use the Unforgivable Curses on Death Eaters."

Lily shook her head silently. From what she had heard of this Crouch fellow, he would do _anything _to stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Lily would have done anything to stop the war too, but she could never kill anyone. _But then again, Crouch doesn't have to do it, _Lily thought bitterly. _He'll make people like James and Sirius and Alice do it for him._

Dragging herself out of her depressing thoughts, Lily looked at her clock.

"Damn, I need to go" said Lily, standing up and drinking the rest of her coffee.

James turned to look at the clock as well. "Same here" he said as he stood up to go. He walked over to Lily and wrapped his arms around her. "I'll see you tonight?" he asked in a lower tone than usual.

Lily smiled up at James. "Yeah. I'll come over after I get off work."

He tilted her chin upward and kissed her softly. "I know what your trying to do, James" Lily said, just slightly above a whisper. "I really need to get to work."

"Fine" said James, throwing his hands in the air, yet not moving away.

Lily stood on her toes and kiss James again.

"I'll see you tonight" said James.

"See you tonight" she replied, smiling.

000

Lily walked out of the storage room at Flourish and Blotts with a stack of books so high that she could barely see over them. She set them down on a small table and began to put them on their appropriate shelves. Suddenly, she heard someone call to her from behind.

"Lily!" the girl yelled.

Lily whipped around. She saw Alice, smiling widely.

"You nearly gave me a stroke!" said Lily, but hugged her friend regardless.

Once they broke apart, Alice looked into Lily's eyes. "Are you okay? You look pretty tired."

Lily couldn't help but smile. "I'm fine Alice, I just didn't sleep much last night."

"Oh, I see" said Alice, grinning. "And what time did James leave?"

"About seven," Lily replied, trying, and failing, to sound and look innocent. But when Alice raised her eyebrows at her, Lily continued, "this morning."

Both of the girls laughed. Alice, regaining some of her composure, asked Lily, in a tone of mock seriousness, "And what time did you go to bed?"

"Going to bed and actually falling asleep are two _very _different things, Alice"

At Lily's last remark, the girls took one look at each other and laughed until they had tears in their eyes.

"So did you really come here to harass me about my lack of sleep?" Lily asked once she had stopped laughing.

"Actually, I did need to talk you about something," said Alice, suddenly serious. "When do you go on your lunch break?"

Lily glanced at her watch. "I can go now, actually. Just let me tell my boss and get my purse." She walked into the back store room, grabbed her purse, and told her boss that she was going on her lunch break. She met Alice at the front of the store, then they both walked out of bookstore and into the bright sunshine of Diagon Alley.

"Where d'you want to eat?" asked Lily, once they were in the crowded street.

"Let's go to Florean Fortescue's for some ice cream" said Alice excitedly.

"Ooo, that sounds great!"

The girls made their way down to the ice cream parlor, ordered two large hot fudge sundaes, and sat down at an umbrella-shaded table just outside the parlor.

"So are you going to tell me what this is all about?" asked Lily after a few minutes.

"I was wondering what you are doing next Friday at around four o'clock"

Lily thought to herself. "Well, next Saturday is my birthday, so...nothing. Why?"

Alice's face instantly lit up. "Frank and I are getting married" she said simply.

Lily's jaw dropped. "What?"

Alice beamed even more. "Yeah, its gonna be pretty small, just family and close friends...But I wanted to ask you something else..."

"Go ahead"

"Well," Alice looked suddenly nervous, "it's just that, well Lil, we've been friends for a long time, and, I was wondering...Would you be my maid of honor?"

Now it was Lily's turn to smile. "Absolutely, Alice!"

"Good, I asked Dorcas and Elizabeth to be my other bride's maids last night, and I would have asked you last night, but I knew that James was over and I know that I hate to be interrupted when Frank is over."

"Wait a minute...when were you ever interrupted?" asked Lily, grinning slyly.

Alice blushed slightly. "We were at Frank's apartment last week, messing around, when his mother decides to pay a surprise visit"

Lily cringed. "Yeah that sucks. That kinda happened to me and James when we were suppose to be packing so I could move."

They spent the rest of Lily's lunch break talking about some of their other "close calls".

000

During the next few days, the four girls picked out the bride's maid's dresses (knee-length, soft blue dresses) as well as Alice's dress. Since she was having a fairly small wedding, she had decided on a long, a-line gown that was plain, but beautiful none the less.

Lily, James, and Sirius were sitting in the guy's apartment discussing Alice and Frank's wedding when Sirius brought up the fact that Remus and Elizabeth were going to go together.

"No shit" said Lily when Sirius told her this startling piece of gossip.

"No shit" repeated Sirius.

"And when was I when this happened?" asked James, acting like he was offended.

"Probably with Lily" said Sirius, soon after receiving a smack in the back of the head from his best friend while Lily laughed at the pair of them.

"But you know what that means, don't you?" Lily asked James and Sirius.

"No, what?" asked Sirius.

"Well, your not going with anyone, are you Sirius?"

"No" he said slowly.

Lily grinned at him. "Well, since Elizabeth and Dorcas are bride's maids, and I'm the maid of honor, that means that you, James, Remus, Peter and _Josefine_ will be sitting together during the ceremony"

James and Sirius both glared at Lily for mentioning that.

"Oh, c'mon guys, what's so bad about her? What has she ever done to you?" she asked, sounding exasperated.

"Nothing" both James and Sirius replied quietly, not looking at Lily.

"Then why don't you like her?"

James and Sirius traded a knowing look before James said, "It's just that...there's something odd about her..."

"Exactly, something odd" said Sirius backing up his friend.

Lily rolled her eyes at the both of them, not pressing the matter anymore, knowing that they were equally stubborn.

000

Alice and Frank's wedding, while small, was still beautiful and, in Lily's opinion, very intimate. She could tell just from the how Alice and Frank said their vows, that their was no doubt that they would be happy together for a long time. But Lily, standing so close to the glowing-with-happiness Alice, couldn't help but think of her own happiness; her own wedding. She thought of little things, like, _maybe I would invite more people _or _maybe I could have slightly different vows. _

_What am I doing? _Lily asked herself, pulling out of her thoughts. _Why am I thinking about my wedding? James and I aren't even engaged yet and I'm thinking about our wedding. Besides, James won't to get married yet, and, his is only eighteen, and I'm nearly eighteen, we still have plenty of time. _

But she knew that she was wrong: they didn't have plenty of time. With Voldemort's power growing everyday, they had to live everyday as though it was their last, because one day, it would be. And being members of the Order of the Phoenix put their lives in even more danger. Lily and James, along with their other friends, had attended six Order meetings since they had left Hogwarts, and each one just made it more clear that they one thing that they didn't have a lot of was time.

Little did she know that James was thinking along the same lines.

000

By eleven o'clock that night, Lily, James, Sirius, Dorcas, Peter and Josefine were all sitting around a large, round table at Alice and Frank's reception, with entirely too much to drink. They were all giggling at really dumb things, like how Peter was starting to slurring his words together. Well, most of them wee anyway. Josefine was sitting in between Peter and Lily, politely smiling at everyone, hadn't had a single drink all night. And it wasn't as though Lily thought her uncool to not be drinking, (far from it, in fact) but she never seemed like she ever had a good time while she was with them.

Suddenly, Josefine stood up, rubbing her left forearm. "Well, it's getting rather late, so I should get going." she said, sounding slightly nervous. No one protested, but they all said goodbye, and Peter stood up, nearly falling over, and walked Josefine out of the hall.

When Peter was seated once more, Sirius looked around the table and asked, "Where did Remus and Elizabeth get to?"

Lily looked around. "There they are," she said, "they're dancing."

They all watched Remus and Elizabeth dance; they looked so happy together. And then something happened that none of them had expected: Remus kissed Elizabeth.

Lily felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop. But she couldn't help but smile; Remus had been though so much in his life, maybe now he could be happy. Remus and Elizabeth had stopped dancing by now; they were just standing there, gazing into each other's eyes. Then, they made their way to the door, holding each other's hands.

Remus and Elizabeth came back sometime around midnight. They sat down at the table with their friends, smiling.

And without missing a beat, Sirius looked at Remus and Elizabeth and said, "So are you guys together, er what?"

Remus and Elizabeth looked at one another before Remus said, "Yes, we are."


	11. An Engaging Conversation

An Engaging Conversation

Lily woke up the next day to her telephone ringing. She sat up as a splitting headache settled over her. _What a great way to start your eighteenth birthday, _she thought bitterly to herself, _with a hangover_. She reached toward her bedside table and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" she answered groggily.

"Happy Birthday, darling!" said Mrs. Evans in what Lily thought was a very loud voice for so early in the morning.

"Thanks, Mum." Lily said as she laid back down in her bed.

"So how does it feel to be eighteen?" said Mrs. Evans in a highly enthusiastic voice.

Lily smiled to herself; the only thing that she could feel was her head throbbing.

"It feels great"

"So what are your plans for the day?"

"I'm not sure, but James said that he has it all planned out, which, between us, is a little scary" Lily laughed.

"Oh..." said Mrs. Evans in a knowing voice.

"Do you know something that I don't?"

"No, no, of course not, Lily,"

"Uh huh" Lily didn't believe her mother for a second.

"Well, I'd better let you go. I know that you've got a big day ahead of you"

"So you _do _know what he's got planned!" Lily exclaimed in triumph.

"Goodbye, Lily. I love you." said Mrs. Evans as though she hadn't heard Lily's last remark.

"I love you too, Mum. Bye."

Lily heard the line go dead and hung up the phone. _That was a little more than weird, _she thought, _how could my mum know what James and I are doing today when even I don't know?_

Slowly, Lily dragged herself out of her bed and into a nice, long, hot shower.

000

Lily was sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee when her phone rang for the second time that morning. She stood up to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lil, it's me."

"James? How – you don't have a phone in your apartment – how –"

"I'm at a pay phone. Anyway, I'm taking you to lunch today, and you should wear your black dress."

Lily was more than a little confused. "Why do I need to dress up?"

"Just because...I'll be there in an hour."

"James–"

"And Lil, Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, James, but what is going--"

"I'll see you in an hour." Then the line went dead.

Now Lily was extremely confused. What the hell was going on? Did _everyone _know something that she didn't?

Even though she was very confused, and slightly afraid, Lily managed to get ready when James arrived.

She heard the doorbell ring and hurried out of her room with her make-up on, hair done, strap-less, knee-length, black dress on, and carrying her black, unrealistically painful, high-heels in one hand. She opened the door and felt her breath catch in her chest. James was running his hand through his untamable black hair. He was wearing a pair of black dress pants, a white, button-up shirt, and black tie, and looked stunning. He was carrying a bouquet of pink stargazer lilies.

"You look beautiful," he said as he stepped into the apartment. "Happy Birthday, babe."

"Thank you," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You don't look so bad yourself"

He put an arm around her waist, pulled her close, and kissed her deeply.

Once they had broken apart, James handed Lily the lilies and said, "And these are for you."

"Oh, James, they're beautiful! Just let me put them in a vase before we go." Lily dropped her shoes in one of the chairs at the table and went into the kitchen to find a vase. She put on her shoes, and when she came back, she found James glancing around her apartment looking slightly anxious.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he said, smiling slightly.

"So where is it that you're taking me, anyway?"

"Giovanna's" he said simply.

Lily felt her jaw drop. "That new Italian Muggle restaurant that's just a block away form here?"

"Yeah,"

"But – it's nearly impossible to get in! I know, I've tried."

"They don't take reservations and they open pretty soon, so we'd better get going." said a smiling James as he opened the door for Lily.

000

Because the restaurant was only two blocks from Lily's apartment, they decided to just walk. It was a rather small restaurant, so Lily and James waited by the bar until their table was ready.

"So what do you think of Remus and Elizabeth?" asked Lily.

"I'm kinda surprised. I mean, he's had a thing for her for a while now, but I'm kinda shocked he did something about it."

"I never knew he liked her. How long?"

"A few months"

"And you never told me?" said Lily, trying to sound offended.

"He made us promise that we wouldn't tell anyone"

"But he let you tell me that he was a werewolf?" she asked quietly. She had expected James to come back with some witty comment, but he didn't say anything. He was looking at something behind Lily, with a face of slight shock.

"James? You okay?"

Still, he did not respond. Lily turned around to see what James was looking at. What she saw made her want to break something. Her sister Petunia, who she had not spoken to in over six months, and her husband Vernon were giving there name to the hostess. Lily couldn't believe it, of all the restaurants in London, they, the bloody _Dursleys_, had to pick _this _one.

"I've got an idea," said James quietly as he put a protective arm around her waist. "We'll go back to your place, and we'll order some take-out food." After Lily nodded numbly, he continued, "I'll be right back,"

He left their place at the bar and Lily watched him walk to the hostess, careful to avoid Petunia and Vernon. James was saying something to the hostess, who nodded. Then James nodded to Lily, who took it as a sign for them to leave.

She rose from her chair and made her way to the door. Lily kept her eyes on the floor; the last thing she wanted to do was start a fight with her sister in the middle of a Muggle restaurant. She felt someone bump into her shoulder and spun around to give them a dirty look, but she found herself face to face with Petunia.

Petunia looked at Lily with a completely shocked expression, while Lily looked at her with anger flickering in her green eyes. Lily wanted nothing more than to punch her sister in the face, but gained some self control and turned around and left to meet James at the door.

000

The first thing Lily did when she and James reached her apartment (after taking off her high heels, of course) was head for the phone and order take-out, and since the place was right down the road, it would be there in about fifteen minutes. She walked into the living room to find James lounging on the couch, his collar unbuttoned and tie loosened.

Lily curled up against him as James ran his fingers through her dark red hair. They stayed like this until someone knocked at the door. James got up and answered it; it was their food. He brought it back to the living room were they ate on the couch.

Out of the middle of nowhere, James started to laugh quietly.

"What's so fun?" asked Lily, smiling slightly herself.

"Of all the restaurants in London, no, not just London, in the bloody United Kingdom, your sister and her husband pick the one that we went to."

She smacked his arm playfully. "Well, I'm glad one of us finds it amusing." she said, laughing slightly.

Then James's face turned suddenly serious and slightly nervous. He got off the couch, stood directly in front of Lily, and held her hands in his. She looked at him in confusion.

"Lily, I love you. I've loved you for my whole life, even if I just realized it this past year. We have our whole lives ahead of us to be together. But things are changing; we may not have forever in front of us. Which is why I have to do this now." James took a deep breath before he kneeled on one knee. Lily realized what he was going to say about a second before he did.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes," said Lily breathlessly as tears formed in her eyes. She grabbed James tie and pulled him into a deep kiss.

Once they broke apart, James reach into his pocket and pulled out the most beautiful ring Lily had ever seen. It had a silver band, one large diamond in the center and two slightly smaller ones on either side. As he slid it onto her left hand, tears were falling freely from Lily's eyes.

"So, should we go tell everyone now or should we wait 'til tomorrow?" James asked.

Lily grinned before she kissed him again. "I think they can wait," she whispered seductively.

A/N: Hellooo! I just want to tell you guys that this will most likely be my last update before the release of the eagerly anticipated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And for the week after July 16th, I'll be (and you probably will be too) reading and re-reading book six. My next update will probably be around the 23rd, give or take a few days. Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed! You guys rock!


	12. The Last Argument

A/N: I'll make this quick, don't read the A/N at the bottom unless you've read _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_. Oh, yeah, and I don't own HP.

The Last Argument

The next day, Lily and James went over to his apartment to find all of their friends, except Alice and Frank who were on their honeymoon, and James' parents already celebrating their engagement. Lily had been surprised, but James wasn't.

"Did you tell everyone that you were going to propose?" asked Lily.

"Pretty much," said James, smiling.

"And I suppose that this" Lily waved to the party, "was your idea."

"No, this was actually Sirius' idea. He wasn't about to miss a chance to throw a party."

The party went on for a few hours before Lily insisted that she and James should go to her mother's house and tell her as well.

As soon as Lily told her mother, she pulled both Lily and James into death-grip hugs. The three of them sat in Mrs. Evans' living room while Lily and James recounted yesterday's events, but did not include that they had seen Petunia.

Lily and James were telling Mrs. Evans that they had talked about having a November wedding when the doorbell rang. Her mother had been gone for a few minutes when Lily stood up and was about to go see who it was when Mrs. Evans came back into the living room followed by none other than Petunia and Vernon. Lily and Petunia both looked shocked to see one another, but their surprised reactions quickly gave way to deathly glares. As soon as he had seen Petunia, James had stood up next to Lily, just incase she decided to hall off and punch her older sister.

_No, no, no, _Lily thought, _this can't be happening!_

It was a very awkward moment, the tension could have been sliced with a knife.

Finally, Mrs. Evans attempted to break the ice. "Well, Petunia, we've just had some rather exciting news." Lily would have given anything for her mother to just shut the hell up.

"Oh, and what might that be?" said Petunia, her voice full of disdain, as she finally stopped glaring at her only sibling and looked at her mother.

"Lily and James are engaged!" said Mrs. Evans, who couldn't help but beam at her youngest daughter.

"Is this true?" asked Petunia venomously as she rounded on Lily.

Lily laced her fingers though James', held up her left hand to show Petunia her rather large engagement ring, and said, "Yes, it is," as though she were daring her sister to contradict her.

Petunia turned to her mother again. "Mum, do you think I could speak with my sister alone for a moment?" she asked.

"Of course Petunia," said Mrs. Evans, sounding pleased just by the fact that her daughters were speaking to each other. James and Vernon, on the other hand, didn't look as though they thought it was safe to leave this particular pair of sisters alone.

Once the room was empty except for Lily, Petunia said, "So, how far along are you, then?"

"Excuse me?" said Lily, not understanding her sister's question.

"I should have made myself planner. How far along in your _pregnancy _are you?"

Lily's jaw nearly hit the floor from pure shock. "You think that I'm _pregnant_?" she somehow managed to say though her ever rising temper.

"Why else would you two rush into marriage?" asked Petunia, with a hint of victory in her voice.

"First of all," said Lily slowly, trying to control her volcano of a temper, "James and I are in love, which, I would like to remind you is why most people get married." She sounded, and felt, as though she were explaining that two plus two equals four to a child. "And secondly, I am _not _pregnant."

But when Petunia still looked skeptically, Lily nearly screamed, "I'm not pregnant!"

"But you have been sleeping with him, haven't you?"

"I really don't see how that is any of your business." said Lily coldly.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," said Petunia, matching Lily's coldness.

"You know what, Petunia, James and I are sleeping together. As a matter of fact we've _been _sleeping together for quite a while now. And not only do we _have _sex, but we have _amazing _sex, which, I'm sure, is more than you can say." Lily said rather proudly.

"You have no idea–"

"Exactly! You have no idea what James and I have been through to get to where we are today! Why can't you just be happy for me for once in your life, you self-centered bitch!" Lily yelled.

"How dare you, of all people, call me self-centered!" Petunia yelled, easily matching Lily's volume. "You, who disappeared off to that – that – freak school for seven years and left your family behind! You, who, only last Christmas, after our own father died, brings home some boyfriend who is just as much of a freak as you are, you whore!"

By this time, James, Vernon, and Mrs. Evans had burst into the room, watching the screaming match. Neither Lily nor Petunia had noticed them enter.

Lily had begun to walk towards Petunia with every intention of beating the shit out of her: she had put up with Petunia's insults for seven years, but Lily was not going to let her insult James.

But as soon as James saw Lily make a move towards her sister, he knew it was time to intervene. He quickly crossed the room and grabbed Lily around the waist, dragging her away from Petunia.

"Let go, James! I've had enough! L'me at her!" Lily protested.

He turned her around so that they were face to face, his hands having a firm grasp on her shoulders.

"Lil, calm down," he said in a low, soothing voice.

She took a few deep breaths and some how, just by looking into his beautiful hazel eyes, felt much, much calmer. A single tear slid down her cheek.

James instantly wrapped his arms around her in a protective and comforting embrace, which she gratefully returned, closing her eyes against his shoulder.

Suddenly, Lily felt the familiar sensation of blackness pressing down on her from all directions. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she and James were standing in the middle of the living room in her apartment.

She looked up at James. "Side-Along-Apparition?"

He gave her a small smile. "Would you rather be with your sister?"

She shook her head, led James to the couch that was directly in front of her, and once again buried her head in his shoulder.

They sat in silence for how long they didn't know. James ran his fingers through her hair more silent tears streamed down her face.

"How much did you hear?" asked Lily, speaking barely above a whisper, wiping the tears off of her cheeks.

"We came in when Petunia called you a whore. Why _did _she call you a whore?"

Finally looking at James, Lily replied, "Probably because I told her that you and I have amazing sex and that she and Vernon don't."

After James gave her a an oh-my-God-are-you-crazy look, Lily explained that Petunia had accused Lily of being pregnant, and all of the insults that followed.

"Well, I can't say I blame you," said James. "That's only the second time I've met her and she's been a stuck up bitch both times."

Lily could help but laugh, until the phone rang. _Oh, great, _she thought, _that's probably my mother calling to ask if James and I are really sleeping together and then yell at me for it. _

But for some reason, she went into the kitchen and answered the phone anyway.

"Hello?"

"Lily? It's Mum." she sounded very serious.

"Oh, hi,"

"Listen, Lily, I know that you and your sister don't get along very well, but why don't you and James come back over here anyway?" Mrs. Evans almost sounded pleading.

"No, not as long as she's there."

"Lily, this whole thing is ridiculous–"

"Then why don't you tell my _darling _sister to get over this whole anti-magical thing that she has?"

"Do you think that has never occurred to me? I've been trying to for the past seven years but Petunia is so– so– "

"Stubborn? Look, I've been putting up with this crap for seven years and I've had it! Did you know that she accused me of being pregnant?"

"Yes, and she also told me about you and James as well," Lily knew that her mother was talking about the whole "amazing sex" thing she'd told Petunia.

"Mum, I'm not in the mood for a speech about my loss of innocence or whatever, but--" Lily went silent; a single scarlet feather and a note had just dropped on her counter. Lily knew exactly what the note said before she even read it; she knew it was a summons to an Order meeting.

"Mum, I've got to go."

"Lily--"

"No, Mum, I've really got to go. I'll talk to you later." James had just walked into the kitchen, carrying a similar note and letter.

"Alright, dear. I love you."

"I love you, too. Goodbye." Lily hung up the phone and turned towards James.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be," she replied sadly before they both disapparated.

A/N: From here on out, I will be using the information given about any of the characters in my story in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, mainly Snape _cough that son of a bitch cough, _cause he heard the prophecy _cough that son of a bitch cough._

Anyway, hope you liked the chapter, and don't forget to review!


	13. Once Defied

A/N: I am really, really, really, _really, _sorry that it took me so long to update! I started school about three weeks ago and I have been unrealistically busy. So anyway, I am going to try my hardest to update every other week. Hope you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review.

Once Defied

As soon as Lily and James stepped into the Order's headquarters, Dumbledore's childhood home, they knew something terrible had just happened. As they walked into the meeting room, they saw that their fellow Order members all had looks of slight fear on their faces and spoke in hurried whispers. They immediately found Sirius and Remus and sat next to them. Lily noticed that only about half of the Order was present.

But once Dumbledore stood, everyone fell silent. "There has been a massive Death Eater attack in a small, mainly Muggle community just outside of Bristol. We believe that Lord Voldemort is there as well. Many Aurors are fighting as we speak, but their have already been many deaths, which is why I have called you here. Alastor Moody and I will lead you into the town."

Moody stood next to Dumbledore in front of the assembled Order members, broke them up into groups (not surprisingly, Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus were put together), and gave them the address to which they could apparate. Half of the Order, which included Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus, went to the north part of the town, while Moody's team took the south end.

Once they arrived, Lily gasped. Most of the homes around them had been reduced to rubble. As she looked around, she saw that a tent stood next to them, which had the St. Mungo's emblem (a wand and bone, crossed). Lily knew this must be where both wizard and Muggle victims, she tried not to think _bodies_, were being taken. And while the tent appeared to be able to hold two people at the most, Lily would not have been surprised if it could hold at least fifty people.

After the Order had broken into their respective groups, Lily, James, Sirius and Remus made their way to a house that Dumbledore had talked about back at headquarters, trying not to make a sound. If the Death Eaters or Voldemort heard them, they wouldn't hesitate to kill all of them. The thought sent chills down Lily's spine. As they approached the door, half hanging on its hinges, Lily heard what sounded like a child screaming and a mother's sobs.

Once inside, James and Lily split up from Sirius and Remus to search the first floor, while more cries pain and terror came from upstairs. Every room bore the unmistakable signs of a one-sided fight in the Muggle home. Tables, chairs, a couch, even the back door, were blown to pieces. Just as James and Lily met up with Sirius and Remus, they heard the younger of the two voice stop screaming, but the mother's screams nearly doubled.

Wordlessly, wands drawn, the foursome slowly made their way up the stairs, towards the screaming mother. Suddenly, a masked Death Eater came out of the farthest room down the hall as the screaming became slightly subdued. He stared, apparently shocked that they were there. Sirius quickly and silently stunned and bound him.

Lily quickly moved into the room where the Death Eater had emerged. What she saw nearly made nearly made her cry: the woman was sitting on the floor, crying as she held her daughter, who looked as though she had passed out, or possibly died from being tortured.

Lily walked quickly over to the woman, who nearly screaming, "Please, wake up" to her daughter. When she saw Lily, she instinctively tried to back away.

"No, no, I'm here to help you and your daughter," said Lily kindly as she knelt down to look more closely at the little girl, who couldn't have been older than six or seven. Lily found the girl's faint pulse and breathed a sigh of relief; at least she was alive.

"We need to get you two out of here quick," said Lily, just as James, Sirius and Remus entered the room. Remus immediately knelt down to pick up the little girl. Sirius helped the mother to her feet.

"We need to take them to the Healers. The girl as a pulse, but it's very faint." James nodded and led the way out of the house, followed by Remus with the little girl, Sirius, the mother, and Lily bringing up the rear.

Once out of the house, they quickly made their way to the Healers' tent. Lily explained to a Healer that she thought the Lily girl had been tortured until she had passed out.

James, Lily, Remus and Sirius all stepped into the night, hoping to find their fellow Order members. What they found made Lily's eyes widen with fear. There, some mere twenty feet ahead of Lily, her fiancé, and two of her closest friends, was Lord Voldemort, flanked by two masked Death Eaters. It looked as though they were headed towards the Healers' tent to finish off their victims.

Everything that Lily had ever heard about Voldemort was true. Voldemort was tall, thin, and terrifying intimidating. His hands and fingers were unnaturally long and white, just as white as his face, as white as a skull; a nose that was as flat as a snake's; and those livid scarlet eyes that seemed to burn into Lily's soul and made her breath catch in her chest.

"Well, well, well," said Voldemort slowly as an almost amused expression crept onto that already terrifying face. "Two blood traitors, a half-breed, and a Mudblood are going to stop me from finishing what I have started. How charming."

Voldemort lazily flicked his hand before the two Death Eaters drew their wands and threw curses at two of the Order members, which happen to be Sirius and Remus. And while they engaged in an intense battle, James did what was both the bravest and stupidest thing he had ever done in his life: he sent a curse straight at Voldemort, who easily deflected it.

But instead of retaliating on James, Voldemort pointed his wand at Lily and yelled, "_Avada Kedavra!_"

Luckily, Lily was ready (well, as ready as she could have been) and dodged the Killing Curse. And without any possible way out of it, James and Lily began dueling with the most feared wizard of all time.

But Lily soon learned that Voldemort not only dueled with his wand, which was bad enough, but also with his words. He was venomously hissing how the Mudblood would die painfully, and how Potter would watch. Lily knew that he was doing it to throw them off, and as much as Lily hated to admit it, it was working. With every comment, Lily could feel her mind slip into panic mode, and before long, she was running on pure adrenaline. But for whatever reason, Voldemort seemed to just be playing with them, as a cat would play with a mouse. And before long, Lily feared he would grow tired of the duel and finish them off...

Apparently, that time had come...Voldemort threw a curse at James and sent him flying into a brick wall. Lily began to run towards James, completely forgetting about Voldemort for that split second, when she heard that snake-like voice say, "I don't think so Mudblood,"

Lily felt as though white-hot knives were stabbing ever inch of her body. The pain more intense than anything she had ever imagined. She knew that she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, knew she would die form the pain...

But it suddenly stopped. Lily laid on the ground trying to catch her breath. She lifted her head slightly and, with an immense feeling of relief, saw Albus Dumbledore dueling with Voldemort.

Lily set her head back on the cold, hard ground feeling slight assured as the darkness over took her...


	14. Old Friends

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers ! I just saw that I have had 133 reviews and I'm very excited :) Anyway, here's chapter 14, and don't forgetto review!

Old Friends

Her eye lids felt so heavy. Lily refused to open then at first. She was so comfortable, so warm, she wanted to fall back asleep. Then she remembered what happened before she lost consciousness: Voldemort, torturing her until she thought she would die. _Maybe I'm dead, _she thought. She flung her eyes open, but the light was so bright, she promptly shut them. _Hmm, bright light, feeling of comfort...I _must _be dead._ But this time she slowly opened her eyes and blinked. Once her eyes focused, she realized that she was in one of the wards of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

"You were just starting to worry us," said a relieved voice somewhere to the left of Lily. She turned her head to she James smiling as her. Slowly her senses were coming back to her. Just as she could feel James holding her hand, she could feel the aches of last night's battle finally setting in, and they hurt like hell.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her sounding serious.

"A little sore, but I'm alright. Are you okay? Last I saw you, you were thrown against a brick wall. What happened?"

"I just had a few broken ribs" he said with a casual wave of his hand, as if this were an everyday thing. "Sirius said that Dumbledore showed up while I was unconscious and you were being tortured by Voldemort. Apparently they dueled for a while before Voldemort and his Death Eaters fled."

"And you didn't see it?"

"No, like I said, I was unconscious. I woke up right over there," James gestured to an empty bed to the left of Lily's, "about five o'clock this morning. Sirius and Remus were here and they filled me in."

Lily was silent of a few moments before she asked, "What time is it?"

James glanced at his watch before replying, "Nearly noon"

"Have you been here all this time?"

"They nearly kicked me out of the ward at around six thirty, so Sirius, Remus, and I went back to our apartment, I took a shower, and we came right back a little after seven."

"And the other two?" she asked, wondering where Sirius and Remus were.

"They went up to the tearoom a few minutes before you woke up."

Suddenly, as if on cue, Sirius and Remus walked into the ward and, once seeing that Lily was awake, broke their serious expressions and smiled.

"How are you doin'?" asked Sirius as he and Remus drew up chairs out of thin air on Lily's right.

"I've got a headache and my back hurts, but other than that, I'm okay," she smiled at them.

They were all quite for a few minutes before Lily started asking Sirius and Remus for their own first-hand accounts of what happened, which turned out to be nearly identical to the one that James told her. Sirius and Remus had just finished when a Healer came in and made James, Sirius and Remus go out into the hall while she performed an exam on Lily.

The Healer wanted Lily to stay until the next morning for observations, but Lily flat out refused. And after much debate, they compromised that she would only stay in the ward for the rest of the day and be discharged that night.

000

Two Weeks Later (August 1st)

Lily awoke with a start. _That damn alarm clock, _she thought. She somehow managed to fling her arm out from under the covers and hit the button that stopped that annoying buzzing noise (after a few tries anyway). Sun light was streaming through the open window, reminding her to wake her ass up. She turned onto her stomach and crammed the pillow over her head as she gave a small groan. This was about the time that her brain finally kicked on; she suddenly became aware that James was not lying next to her. They had stayed up pretty late the night before planning the wedding (which they had set for November 2nd)...well, that's what they were suppose to be doing, anyway.

She tossed her pillow on the floor so she could see the other side of the bed properly, the paranoid side of her brain kicking in. Sure enough, it was empty.

"It's about time you woke up" said a voice from somewhere near the door.

Lily couldn't help but grin as she turned over to see a (surprisingly) fully dressed James leaning on the frame of the door. He walked over, sat on the edge of Lily's bed and kissed her forehead.

"Are you ready for you first day of Healer training?" he asked in an overly bright voice.

"You bet cha" she replied sarcastically as she propped herself on her elbows, making sure that the sheets were covering her.

"Hey, now, I don't wanna hear it. I've been training damn near all summer."

"Speaking of which, don't you have to leave soon?" Lily glanced at the clock: it was just after seven.

"Yeah, I gotta be there by seven-thirty. What about you?"

"Marlene's letter said to be in the conference room at eight o'clock sharp." Marlene McKinnon, a fellow Order member, was the Healer that would be training Lily and the other trainees.

"I should get going, I wanted to stop by my place before I go into the Ministry."

"Alright. You want me to come by when I get done?"

"Sure," He leaned down to kiss her again, this time, on her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. He could feel her breasts pressed against his chest. It took all of the strength he possessed to not crawl back into her bed.

"I love you," said Lily after she and James broke apart.

"I love you, too. I'll see you later. Have fun." he added sarcastically. After Lily threw her other pillow at him, he quickly left.

Somehow, Lily dragged herself out of bed, into the shower, got dressed, ate a quick breakfast, and was at St. Mungo's by seven forty-five.

She asked the witch at the front desk were the conference room was, who told her to go straight down the hall and it was the fifth door on the right. Just outside the conference room, Lily glanced at her watch. Eight fifty-five. _Perfect timing, _she smiled to herself as she opened the door.

But her smile soon faded when she saw who the other trainee was.

Simone Lyn, one of the few people that Lily could honestly say that she hated with a passion, was sitting towards the end of a long, rectangular table in front of her.

Lily slowly moved closer to the table and sat directly across from Simone, who looked as shocked as Lily felt. But luckily, Marlene, a tall, kind looking brunette, came in, carrying three rather large books, before either Lily or Simone could say anything.

"Hello Lily, Simone," said Marlene warmly as she shook each of their hands in turn before she sat at the head of the table. "As you probably know, my name is Marlene McKinnon, and I am Head of the Healer Training Program. This year is going to be a lot different than in the past. Usually, we start out with twenty or so students and dwindle down to ten or less, and it would take nearly two years to complete the program. But, because there are only two of you, you will basically follow me during the course of the day, and help me perform certain tasks. You'll slowly start to do things on you own and by July, you'll have your Healer's License. On Mondays, we will be in this room, and this is when we will do the boring book stuff. The rest of the week we will meet here, then go around to different departments of the hospital so you can get the hands on experience. But, for this week, we'll be in here, doing all of the really boring stuff, and practicing some very basic healing charms that, based on your Hogwarts transcripts, you two should have no problem with.

"Now, it says here," Marlene continued as she pulled a piece of parchment from inside her robes. "That you were both in the same year at Hogwarts, Lily in Gryffindor and Simone in Ravenclaw, so you already know each other, right?"

Simone and Lily briefly caught each other's eyes before they nodded at Marlene. Yeah, they knew each other, all right...

"Good," said Marlene as she gave Lily and Simone each one of the books she had. "Well, lets go ahead and get started."

000

Hours, but what felt days, later, Lily flung the door open of apartment 221 to find James, Remus and Elizabeth sitting around the living room discussing something. They looked up when Lily tossed her huge book on the floor (something that she normally would never have done) and were surprised by the look on her face.

"Are you alright?" asked James from the couch.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just bloody fantastic!" she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she walked towards her friends. Lily flopped on the couch next to James and buried her head in her hands.

Elizabeth, who had been sitting on the floor, leaning against Remus' legs, walked over to sit by her distressed friend and asked, "What happened Lils?"

"Well, lets start at the beginning: There is only one other trainee, besides me. Anyone wanna guess who it is?"

"Will Logan," said Remus.

Lily gave a small laugh. "I wish,"

Everyone looked at her in surprise. Who could be worse than her ex-boyfriend? But they didn't have to wait long for the response.

"Simone" said Lily tonelessly.

James, Remus and Elizabeth stared at Lily as though she were crazy.

"You have _got _to be kidding!" exclaimed Elizabeth.

"If only I was,"

"Did she say anything to you?"

"Yeah, she did: she said that we'll be seeing a lot of each other just before we left. At first I thought she was talking about our training together, but there was something about the way she said it... I don't know...like we'd be seeing each other outside of the hospital..."

The girls went into a discussion about what Simone could have meant, but couldn't think of anything. But after a while, their talk had to come to an end, because tonight was the night that Remus was going to meet Elizabeth's family, and they were both terrified by the very thought. After a lot of reassurance, and good luck, from James and Lily, Remus and Elizabeth left for her parents' home.

Once they had left, Lily glanced around the nearly empty apartment, and then it hit her. She turned to James and asked, "Where's Sirius?"

"He had a date tonight"

"With who?"

"I don't know; he didn't say and I didn't ask."

Switching gears, she asked, "Do you think everything will go alright? With Remus, I mean."

"I think so. He's nearly the perfect gentlemen, so I doubt he'll have any problems winning her parents over."

"Does Elizabeth know that Remus is a werewolf?"

"Yeah, they had a nice, long talk a few weeks ago, and then they...well, I'm sure you can guess what happened next," he added suggestively.

"Ohhh," Lily smiled, "See, I heard about the sex, but she just never got around to the whole werewolf thing,"

They were quiet for a few minutes before James asked, "You wanna go eat somewhere?"

"Sure, were do you wanna go?"

000

After they ate dinner, James went over to Lily's apartment so they could finish a few more of the wedding details. So far they had the best man (Sirius), groomsmen (Remus and Peter), maid of honor (Alice), and the bride's maids, (Dorcas and Elizabeth). Lily had chosen hunter green dress robes for the bride's maids, but she hadn't decided if she wanted to wear white dress robes or a Muggle bridal grown. They had also decided where the wedding was going to take place (an old restored mansion just outside of Lily's home town), but only had an idea where they wanted the reception to be.

At around ten, he had gone back to his own apartment. Remus wasn't there, and Sirius...well, Sirius had turned his doorknob from gold to silver...the guys' sign for Do Not Disturb.

The next morning, James was sitting at the table, trying to wake up by drinking a cup of coffee, when he heard Sirius and his date from last night, come out of his bedroom. He could hear them talking, and his date's voice sounded slightly familiar.

Sirius walked is date to the door as James tried get a glimpse at her, trying to place her voice to a face. Who he saw nearly made his jaw crash on the floor.

000

Lily woke up in a slightly good mood. She and James had been talking last night, and she had decided that she would take the whole Simone situation one day at a time, be polite but not too friendly. That was until about seven o'clock, shortly after Lily had dragged herself out of bed.

James apparated into Lily's kitchen. Lily was sitting at her table, looking shocked to see James.

Without preamble, James sat down next to Lily and said, "It was Simone"

"What?" Lily asked, she was totally lost.

James took a deep breath before he continued. "Simone was Sirius' date"

Lily's jaw fell. After a while, she somehow asked, "D-did you see her last night or-" she really hated to ask the next part "or did you see her this morning"

James wouldn't meet her eyes when she answered, "This morning"

Lily felt as though the room were spinning.

"I talked to him this morning, he said that it was more of a one night stand than anything else." James thought that this would calm Lily, but it seemed to make things worse: Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes at James.

"Don't you get it, James?" When he continued to look blankly at her, she continued, "_We _started out as a one night stand! And look at us now, we're getting married in...three months. What if the same thing happens and we're stuck with Simone forever?"

He gave a small laugh. "Don't you think you're over reacting just a bit?"

Lily glared at him. "Well excuse me, but you and Sirius were the ones that nearly freaked out because Peter had the _audacity _to date a Slytherin."

"That is not the same thing"

"Your right; yours was worse because you didn't even know Josefine. At least I know what a manipulative bitch Simone is,"

"That's not the point," said James as he waved off Lily's last remark, "I don't think that'll happen in Sirius's case"

"And why not?"

"Because I know Sirius, and, not to sound like a girl, but he's not the serious boyfriend type."

Lily narrowed her eyes slightly, "And before me, neither were you." she said in a low voice, though she knew James got every word. "Look," she began again with a kinder tone, "I need to take a shower...Are you gonna stay?"

"No," James said as he stood up. "I need to get going. So I'll see you at the meeting tonight?"

"Yeah" said Lily right before James gave her a quick kiss and left. Lily shook her head after he was gone. _He just doesn't get it,_ she thought as she headed for her bathroom.

With the prospect of having to face a gloating Simone and an Order meeting (which probably meant more death and destruction) all in one day, Lily got into her hot shower hoping that the day wouldn't be as bad as she thought.


	15. Talks, Plans, and Parties

A/N: In my last chapter, Lily arrived at the conference room at St. Mungo's at seven fifty-five, not eight fifty-five. Sorry if I confused anyone and thanks to Aquarius21 for the heads up! Keep up the reviews!

Talks, Plans, and Parties

Lily, Alice, and Dorcas walked into Dorcas's apartment soon after their Order meeting had ended. The three friends were still reeling from the news that they had been told only over an hour ago. Their fellow Order member Benjy Fenwick had been killed last night. But the most disturbing bit was that they had only found "pieces of him" as Moody had put it. There had been yet another Death Eater attack and only a few of the Order members had been called.

Lily and Alice practically fell around the living room, they didn't even make it to any of the furniture and instead found a comfy piece of floor to lay on. Dorcas, on the other hand, made a quick stop in her kitchen to grab a bottle of wine and three glasses. Once she had returned to her friends, she wordlessly poured the wine and distributed the glasses.

No one spoke for a while, until Alice broke the silence. "Where's Elizabeth?"

But before anyone could reply, Elizabeth herself apparated into the living room. Lily was about to tell Elizabeth that she had nearly given her a heart attack, but stopped at the look on her friend's face: she seemed as though she would break down into tears as and minute.

"What happened, Liz?" asked Dorcas as she stood and guided her roommate to the couch.

"My mother is stupid," she replied as she sunk on the couch.

"You gotta be more specific, sweetheart," Lily said kindly as she and Alice moved closer to Elizabeth.

"You guys know how Remus and I went over to my parents house last night to get the whole 'meet the parents' thing outta the way," she began. "I thought everything went great, but I went back over there again tonight to see what they really thought of him. Well, only my mum was home but she said that Remus was a gentleman and that she thought he was really great. So we started talking about our relationship. Then my mother got the brilliant idea to ask how far our relationship has 'progressed' as she said. And I was stupid enough to tell her that I love him" Elizabeth smiled slightly before her anger took over.

"But then she said she was talking about our _physical _relationship."

"What did you do?" Alice asked, though she thought she had an idea.

"Well, after I realized she was being serious, I flew off the handle, saying it was between me and Remus and it certainly wasn't any of her business, which led to a row and then I just got sick of it, so I apparated here."

"That kinda sounds like what happened with me and my mum," said Lily. "After my lovely sister told my mother that James and I were having sex, she called me and I nearly hung up on her."

They were quite for a while before Elizabeth asked if they had found anything out. Lily, Alice, and Dorcas had confided in Elizabeth about the Order, and she regularly asked if anything was new. And while they couldn't tell her much, they could tell her about the most recent casualty. They told Alice the general outline of how Benjy Fenwick had been killed, which was all they actually knew, before they lapsed into silence once more.

Suddenly Lily gave an odd noise; it was half a sigh, half a laugh. The other three looked at her questioningly.

"And to think, this time last night I was worrying about who my boyfriend's best friend is sleeping with," Lily said with a slight smirk on her face before she finished off her glass.

"Who _is _Sirius sleeping with?" asked Alice, feeling slightly like a gossiping school girl as she and the others sat up a little straighter.

"Simone Lyn," said Lily as she poured herself another glass of wine.

"That's what Simone meant yesterday," Elizabeth burst out, "_We'll be seeing a lot of each other!_ They must have had the date planned sometime before then."

"Wait - am I missing something here?" asked Alice.

"Oh yeah - I haven't told you guys yet." said Lily as she launched into the stories of her first day of training and the information James had told her this morning.

"But James said that it was just a one night stand." said Alice, sounding confused.

"I guess that's the problem." When she got odd looks from her friends, she continued, "Don't forget that James and I started out as a one night stand."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Lil" said Dorcas comfortingly. "The most this fling - if you can even call it that - will last is two, three weeks at the very, _very _most."

"You really shouldn't take it to hard," Elizabeth chimed in.

"I know, but I just really don't like her."

"But you've gotta be the bigger person, Lil," Elizabeth went on. "Just be polite, almost to the point of annoyingly polite. And all those little things she's just bound to do to get you riled up, you can just bitch to us about later." she added with a smirk

"Oh yeah, and don't ask about Sirius; knowing her, she'll give you _way _too many details" added Alice.

Lily smiled as she took another sip of wine before Dorcas changed the subject. "So, Lily, have you even started looking for the wedding dress yet?"

"Well, if window shopping counts, then yes,"

"We should go shopping on Saturday," said Alice. "You know, just to look around. Have you decided on wizarding robes or a Muggle dress?"

"Not yet. What do you guys think?"

"It would be cool if you went with a Muggle dress." said Elizabeth. "It would kinda show that you haven't forgotten about your Muggle background."

Lily nodded in agreement. Ever since she was a little girl (when her and her sister could actually have a civilized conversation) Lily had dreamed of having the huge white wedding gown. And just because she was a witch didn't mean she still couldn't have one.

Alice glanced at her watch. "As much as I don't want to leave, I probably should. It's nearly midnight."

"Yeah, I need to get a few hours sleep before I face Simone again.

After they bid their friends goodbye, Lily and Alice disapparated to their respective homes.

000

Lily, Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth met at noon in the Leaky Cauldron for lunch before they set off into Diagon Alley. They ducked into a few of the stores, just to look around. It wasn't very often that they were all together anymore, so they decided to take full advantage of today.

Finally, they made it into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. There were a few younger children with their parents, who, Lily assumed, were doing some early shopping for Hogwarts' supplies. As soon as Madam Malkin had seen them, she asked, "Are you here to pick up your robes?" she asked Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth. They glanced at each other before they nodded: this hadn't been why they had come, but they might as well get their bride's maid's robes while they were here.

Lily wondered over to the wedding robes while Madam Malkin went to the back to get her friends' robes. As Alice, Dorcas and Elizabeth tried on their hunter green robes, Lily looked at nearly every one of the wedding robes and could barely tell one from the other, they were so similar. Nothing, not _one _of these struck her as being The One.

"So, Lil, what do you think?" called Dorcas from around the shop.

She turned around to see her friends dressed in identical, deep green robes with a square necks, long, bell sleeves and hems that swept the floor. Lily smiled. "You guys look great!"

After admiring each other from nearly every angle, Lily paid for the dresses and they all apparated back to Lily's apartment. After she put the robes into her spare bedroom, which held everything else that dealt with the wedding, Lily returned to her living room where her friends were waiting for her.

"So now where do we go?" asked Alice Lily.

"Well, there is a Muggle bridal store just down the road. Should we start there?" Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth nodded before they all made their way into Muggle London.

They had no problem finding Rosalyn's Bridal. As soon as they entered the store, a blonde, highly enthusiastic woman named Marie showed Lily and her friends to the section of the store that seemed to be filled with what seemed like over a hundred types of wedding gowns.

"Did you have any particular type of style in mind?" Marie asked Lily.

"Not really,"

"Well, about you and your friends just start looking around and if you see one that you want to try on, just let me know and I'll set you up in a dressing room."

Lily nodded her thanks before she started searching in the sea of white. After about twenty minutes, Lily had picked out five dresses. Marie, Lily, and the five dresses had disappeared to a back portion of the store while Alice, Dorcas and Elizabeth waited in front of a three way mirror.

The first dress was a form-fitting and strapless. While it looked great on the hanger, Lily felt more like a slut than a bride. Lily and her friends took one look at each other before Lily shook her head and hurried back to the dressing room as her friends quickly stifled their laughter. After Marie would help get Lily into each dress, Lily gave them a quick modeling show. The second was long sleeved and extremely poofy. While the girls, including Marie, thought she looked great, Lily thought looked like a big snowball - that was two down. The third had thin spaghetti straps, but way to many ruffles and frills - too over the top. The fourth was a very plain, haltered top, too plan in fact. She was starting to think she was too picky for her own damn good.

But as soon as she tried on the final one she had picked out, she knew this one was _the _one. The top would have looked like a sleeveless top, but their was a piece on each side that fell just off her shoulders. Its neckline was low, but not too low, showing a slight glimpse of cleavage. Intricate beading covered most of the top, traveled down the torso of the dress, and tapered off as the lower half grew wider. It had a few layers of material under the lower half of the dress, which gave Lily the impression of a bell.

Lily walked into the section of the store where Alice, Dorcas and Elizabeth were all waiting. As soon as they saw Lily, they all smiled broadly.

"Oh, Lily," cooed Dorcas, "You look amazing!"

"You think so?" she asked as she slowly turned around in front of the mirror, viewing the corset- like back.

"Absolutely" said Alice and Elizabeth together.

After a little more discussion, Lily decided that this was the perfect dress. And because it fit perfectly, Lily was able to put a down payment on it and take it back to her apartment.

000

The next few months passed in a haze for Lily. What with a wedding to plan, working alongside Simone nearly every day, having to listen to her mother about how happy Petunia and Vernon were, and slowly moving all of James's stuff into her apartment, she was too stressed to do much of anything else. By the end of October, everything dealing with the wedding was set: robes (and a wedding gown) were bought, seating charts were made, and invitations were sent. And being the good person that she was, she even sent an invitation to her sister...well, her mother had all but made her, and she knew that Petunia would never come, but none the less, she sent one. And just as she thought, Petunia had written her a very short and formal note saying that her and Vernon would be out of town on that day and would be unable to attend. Lily had even invited Simone, but only because she knew that if she didn't, she would probably go as Sirius's date anyway.

And that was another thing; Simone and Sirius. They were still together. No one, not even James, would have ever thought this relationship would last longer than a few weeks. And as much as Lily hated to admit it, Sirius _did _seem happier. He had fallen into a slight depression when he realized that James was no longer going to be his room mate. Lily was hoping that Sirius was just trying to cheer himself up by being with Simone. James was betting on Sirius getting bored and moving on within the next few weeks, and Lily believed him. After all, James probably knew Sirius better than Sirius knew himself.

The Saturday night before the wedding, Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth (along with Sirius, Remus and Peter) had planned bachelorette and bachelor parties, respectively. They had decided to have them a week before the wedding because they had figured it would take them about a week to recover from their hangovers they were bound to have. Their was only one rule to these parties – don't ask, don't tell.

The girls all headed over to Dorcas and Elizabeth's apartment were they spent the rest of the night drinking in excess talking about their favorite subject to talk about when guys are not around: sex. Everything was out in the open from positions, to foreplay, to techniques, to any and every thing else. The girls had even gone together and gotten Lily a few presents; two pairs of fuzzy handcuffs and some lacy lingerie.

And nearly the same thing happened with the guys, except for twomajor differences. There were no funny gifts, but there was a blonde stripper named Candy.


	16. Love is the Reason

A/N: If anyone wants to see what Lily's dress looks like, let me know and I'll sent you the link.

Love is the Reason

The morning of November 2nd dawned bright as sunlight streamed into Lily's bedroom. But this was not her bed, nor her room. She was staying in one of the large suites of the Boleyn Mansion, which dated back to the fifteenth century, where, in mere hours, her and James's wedding would be held. The king-sized four poster bed was directly across from the door. To the left of the bed was a night stand, and next to that was a large mirror and vanity. On the right side of the room was a full length mirror and a screen Lily could change behind and a door which led to a bathroom that was about the size of her own bedroom. The room was decorated in deep blues and greens, giving it a calming sense. Alice, Dorcas and Elizabeth were staying in separate, smaller rooms just down the hall. The guys were still at Sirius and Remus's apartment; even Peter had stayed over.

Lily's eyes slowly fluttered open. The early morning rays of light poured through the window to the right of her bed. She glanced at the clock on her night stand - 6:15. She suddenly felt wide awake as she turned to stare at the ceiling. _Less than eight hours_, she thought, not even making an attempt to hide the smile that was creeping onto her face.

So much had happened in just a few short years. Three years ago she thought that James Potter was nothing but a bullying prat, and had no problem telling him so. But so much had changed - _they _had changed. Looking back, she realized that this past year had been the best of her life. They could just be walking down a street together, but when she was with him, she felt complete.

Lily looked at the clock again. 6:30. She sat up and flung her legs off the edge of the bed. Raising her arms above her head and arching her back slightly, she stretched.

Suddenly, a gently rapping came from the other side of the door. Lily walked to and opened it. Standing in the hall were Alice, Dorcas and Elizabeth, all looking excited. After Lily ushered them inside, she asked, "I know why I'm up so early, but why are you?"

"Well, Alice over here couldn't sleep and was being very loud, so we didn't really have a choice." said Dorcas as Alice rolled her eyes. Lily and Elizabeth both laughed – they knew all too well how much of a non-morning person Dorcas was.

"Well, I was about to get into the shower, so if you guys wanna hang out, your more than free."

"Alright" said Elizabeth as Dorcas tried, and failed to stifle a rather large yawn. "Are we all going to get ready in here?"

"You might as well– this room is big enough." said Lily. "Why don't you guys go get your things and I'll bring them in here while I get in the shower." Her three bride's maids nodded before they left the room.

Lily walked into the bathroom, shut the door, took off her pajamas and stepped into the glass shower. After washing both her body and her hair, she let the hot water flood over herself, inhaling the left over scent of her soap and shampoo.

By the time she finally turned off the shower, her chest and back were slightly red from the heat of the steam and water. After stepping out of the shower, she grabbed two of the soft towels that were hanging on a railing. She wrapped one around her body and the other around her head as a make-shift turban to help dry her thick, dark red hair. After drying off, she put on a white, soft bath robe (compliments of the mansion's staff). Lily finally came out of the bathroom and saw Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth bent over a cart that was piled high with nearly every type of breakfast food she had ever seen. The girls looked up when Lily entered and Alice explained, "Some guy in a suit just dropped it off...said it was part of the deal, or something."

Lily nodded, suddenly remembering that this breakfast was part of the arrangement she and James had made with this place. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she wasn't feeling too hungry. But she grabbed a biscuit anyway, not because she was hungry, but now she had something to focus her attention on, and sat down on the bed.

"Is that all your gonna eat?" asked Elizabeth.

Lily merely shrugged, looking down at her biscuit. "You guys can help yourselves, you know," she added as an afterthought, still not looking at them.

"Your not getting cold feet now, are you?" asked Dorcas with a concerned voice as all three girls sat next to Lily on the bed.

"I don't know...I just feel really nervous all of a sudden."

"I know exactly how you feel," said Alice kindly. "I was so nervous before Frank and I got married, even now, I'm not sure why I was, because I knew I loved him...but there was just something that I couldn't put my finger on...But it all disappeared when I saw him standing at the alter..."

"That's what I feel like. I mean, I know I love James and I know I want to be with him for the rest of my life, but I'm still nervous."

To get Lily's mind off her nerves, Alice, Dorcas and Elizabeth spent the next few hours reminiscing on their Hogwarts days. And before anyone knew it, Lily's mother was bursting through the door, and wondering why Lily wasn't getting ready, sounding slightly hysterical.

"Mum! It's alright, we still have plenty of time." Lily said, trying to keep her mother calm. "Look, your not even dressed yet. You go and get ready and we'll help each other get ready, okay?"

"Oh, alright, dear...I'll be back in a little while."

After Mrs. Evans had left, Alice, with a questioning look on her face, turned to Lily and said, "You seemed awfully eager to get your mum out of here."

"Well, I didn't want her to see what I'm going to wear under my gown." said Lily simply, yet with an air of mischief.

"And that would be...?" asked Dorcas.

Lily's full mischievous smile was in place as she replied, "Nothing at all,"

000

By some great miracle, Lily and her bride's maids had their dresses on, hair done, and were in the process of putting on their make-up by one o'clock– an hour before the wedding was to begin. By now, Lily's mother had returned, along with James's mother, who were both twittering away over nearly everything. Lily was sitting at the vanity, her white gown spread around her, as Alice was putting the finishing touches on Lily's blush. Lily's hair was curled and arranged off her shoulders. Once Alice finished, Lily stood, gathered part of her gown in her hands, and made her way over to the large, full length mirror to survey herself. Everyone else gathered around her as she slowly turned to see herself from every angle. Once she made a full turn, she straighten her jewelry; her heart-shaped diamond necklace James had given her last Christmas, the teardrop diamond earrings that belonged to her grandmother, and, of course, her engagement ring.

"But there are still two things that are missing," said Mrs. Evans softly.

"What?"

Mrs. Evans glanced at Mrs. Potter before Mrs. Potter said, "Well, this for one." She withdrew a small, diamond tiara from behind her back. Lily's eyes grew wide as Mrs. Potter placed it on Lily head and continued, "This has been in my husband's family for years. His mother gave it to me on my wedding day, and now I am giving it to you,"

"Th-thank you so much," Lily stammered as she hugged her soon to be mother-in-law.

"It's my pleasure, Lily." Mrs. Potter, her eyes shining bright with tears.

"And this as well," said Mrs. Evans as she placed a lace veil right behind the tiara. "I wore this on my wedding day, as did your grandmother."

"Thanks, Mum," said Lily as she gave her mother a hug as well.

Suddenly, they heard a knock. The six girls turned to face the door as Remus, dressed in black dress robes, let himself in.

"Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Evans, we're getting ready to start," said Remus. Both women gave Lily an encouraging smile and headed towards the door. After he ushered them out, Remus turned back to the girls and said, "You ladies look lovely," as his eyes lingered slightly on Elizabeth before he turned to leave, closing the door behind them.

Alice took Lily's hands in hers and asked, "Are you ready?"

Lily took a calming breath and said, "Yes,"

"Great, now let's get down stairs before they think you've run off."

Lily couldn't help but laugh as she and the other girls headed out the door.

000

Before Lily realized what was happening, she was standing lone in the main hall, bouquet of white and cream colored lilies, roses, stephanotis, and lily of the valley in her slightly sweaty hands. Only a door was separating her from the wedding. Sirius and Alice had just walked into the chapel and the doors had been shut for "effect". Lily's heart hammered against her rib cage as two of the workers opened the doors. Only one thought was running through her mind: _Please, don't let me trip over my dress._

But once the doors opened, all of her fears seemed to vanish. She didn't even register all of the people that were standing there, including the entire Order of the Phoenix and a few of her old professors. All she saw was James, who looked nearly as nervous as she felt. She smiled at him, which he happily returned, as she made her way down the aisle. Soon she was right next James as she gave her bouquet to Alice before Lily put her arm inside they one James had offered as they both turned to the minister.

"Dearly beloved," the minister began, "we have gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience, and an adventure in the most intimate of human relationships. It is the joyous union of two people whose friendship and mutual understanding have flowered in romance. Today, James and Lily proclaim their love and commitment to their love to the world, and we gather to rejoice, with and for them, in the new life that they are about to undertake together.

"Love is the reason why this day was chosen by you both to begin your lives together and love is the reason why you both will give with all your hearts for the good of each other. Love is the reason that together you will become one, one in hope, one in believing in life, and one in sharing the coming years.

"Please face each other and join hands" They did.

"Do you, James, enter this marriage in perfect love and perfect trust?"

"I do"

"And do you, Lily, enter this marriage in perfect love and perfect trust?"

"I do"

"Now the vows,"

James gave Lily's hands a gentle squeeze before vowing, "I, James, join my life to yours, not merely as your husband, but as your friend, your lover, your confidant, and your soul mate. Let me be the shoulder you lean on, the rock on which you rest, the companion of your life. On this day, I vow that, come what may, I will love you, until death do we part." Even though James was trying not to show it, he was fighting back tears of happiness.

"I, Lily, join my life to yours, not merely as your wife, but as your friend, your lover, your confidant, and your soul mate. Let me be the shoulder you lean on, the rock on which you rest, the companion of your life. On this day, I vow that, come what may, I will love you until death do we part." Two tears slid down her cheek.

"And now the rings," directed the minister.

James and Lily turn away from each other to get their rings from Sirius and Alice (respectively) before turning back to each other.

"I offer you this ring as a sign of my faith in, and my commitment to, our love," said James as he slid a diamond wedding band on her left hand.

"I offer you this ring as a sign of my faith in, and my commitment to, our love," repeated Lily as she slid a gold wedding band on his left hand. All they could do was gaze into each other's eyes.

May the confidence, trust, and affection you have for each other on this day sustain you as you both go forward upon you journey of life together, with its joy and laughter. May you fulfill your goals with each others help and guidance, and may you always dwell together in peace, love, and joy.

"James and Lily, having witnessed your vows of marriage with all whom are assembled here, and by the authority vested in me, it is with great pleasure that I pronounce you husband and wife.

"You may kiss your bride."

James didn't hesitate; he wrapped his arms around his bride as her arms slid around his neck before he kissed her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and distinct pleasure to introduce to you, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. James Potter."


	17. Heaven and Hell

A/N: I know, I know, its been forever since my last update, but here tiz (sorry, I love the movie Animal House). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. And don't forget to review! (Especially the first scene. I like it a lot better than the one that was kinda like it towards the beginning of the story)

Heaven and Hell

Once the wedding was over, James, Lily, the entire wedding party, James's parents and Lily's mother stayed close to the chapel to take what seemed like hundreds of pictures, while the guests retired to the banquet hall. And after a good hour, the newly wed couple made their way to the reception. There, James, Lily, and their nearly seventy guests ate, drank, laughed and danced the night away.

But by one in the morning, when nearly all of the guests had left, they Apparated to their apartment.

Well...their _bedroom_ to be more specific...

Once there, Lily carefully removed her tiara and veil, her precious heirlooms she hoped to pass to her own children some day. She pointed her wand at the back of her head, murmured a spell, and her hair fell down her back, still slightly curled.

Lily turned to see James loosening his tie. He had that legendary smirk on his lips and a lustful look that burned in his hazel eyes. He playfully tossed his tie across the bedroom as he made his way to his bride.

James held out his hand, as though he were asking Lily to dance. Slightly confused, she set her hand in his. He spun her around and puller her close, her back nearly touching his chest. He moved her dark red hair over her right shoulder as she kissed her left one. Lily rotated her neck, encouraging James to keep going. He got the hint as he continues to kiss, suck, and nip at her neck as his hands wondered to the ties on the back of her gown. Once the dress was nearly hanging off of her body, Lily turned and threw her arm around her husbands neck and kissed him.

Together, they deepened the kiss as they made their way to the bed. Soon enough, they were both naked. James's mouth crept down her neck, her chest, and her abdomen – until he found her most feminine spot. Lily felt as though electrical currents were passing through her body as she arched her back in pleasure as he kept working his magic.

"James..." she moaned softly. She couldn't take him not being inside her much longer. James was glad to comply as he slid into her warm, wet center as she tipped her hips up to him as he thrust even deeper. They started slow, but as their passion built, their rhythm quickly sped.

She raised her head and covered his mouth with hers. Suddenly, she broke away from his mouth as she arched her back and called his names as her climax raked her body with passion's waves. James let himself go soon after.

As he laid next to her, James wrapped her arms around Lily and, within minutes, they were both asleep from sheer exhaustion.

000

When Lily awoke the next morning, she felt happy, excited, and exhausted all at once. But, above all of this, she felt complete. Her head was lying on James's chest, their arms and legs intertwined. He was still asleep.

And, while she watched James sleep, she couldn't help but feel like the luckiest woman in the world. It all seemed like a fairy tale: here she was, Lily Evans, laying in the arms of the love of her life, James Potter. _But wait, _she thought, _I'm no longer Lily Evans am I? I'm Lily Potter now._ She smiled to herself at the very idea of this.

A few minutes later, Lily finally let go of James and rolled over to see what time it was. 1:35. She laughed to herself, _have we really been asleep that long?_

James had woken up as well, and wrapped his arms around his wife.

"You know, we probably should get up...we're suppose to be in Rome by three" Lily said.

"Now why would we do that?" he asked mischievously as he moved on top of her.

"But–" Then James kissed her, and all thoughts of getting out of bed were completely gone.

000

The next seven days were the happiest seven days Lily had ever had. She and James spent the whole week as Muggle tourists in Rome, looking through nearly every cathedral and museum Lily saw. She had never been a religious person, (that was Petunia's thing) but she had always had a soft spot for some the great artist who's greatest works were spread throughout the city. Lily knew that James wouldn't have left the hotel if she hadn't made him, but he had a good time. He had especially liked the statue called _The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, _in which St. Teresa looked like she was having an orgasm. And to top things off, the tour guide had said that it depicted when an angel had visited St. Teresa while she slept and that St. Teresa herself had said, "...his great golden spear...filled with fire...plunged into me several times...penetrated to my entrails...a sweetness so extreme that one could not possibly wish it to stop." James had to bite down on his bottom lip so he wouldn't laugh. And not to mention the fact that when ever Lily and James were out of earshot of the other tourists, Lily would whisper St. Teresa's words in James ear - which nearly drove him mad.

For that one heavenly week, both of their fears disappeared. In the beautiful city of Rome, the threat of Voldemort and his followers seemed nonexistent. But, unfortunately, they did have to return to the threat.

000

The remainder of the year flew by with only one minor Death Eater attack. A writer for the _Daily Prophet _had been so bold as to suggest that maybe - just maybe - Voldemort was losing some momentum. The Order, on the other hand, knew better. They knew that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had to be planning something big.

And they were right.

James had received an urgent message from Moody telling him about a huge Death Eater attack in Brighton at nearly one o'clock in the morning on the third of January. He had Disapparated by twenty after. Lily, being the stubborn woman she was, would not fall back asleep until she knew that James was lying next to her again. But not ten minutes had passed after James had left that Lily received an message of her own from Marlene McKinnon telling her to come to St. Mungo's to help victims of the attack.

Lily apparated straight into the waiting room of the magical hospital. She received a shock as she noticed that the waiting room was practically full of what looked like some of the minor injured victims. Many people were holding bloody bandages to various body parts. Some were looking around in confusion and wonder. _These must be Muggles_, Lily thought to herself.

Immediately, she noticed Simone and Marlene walking towards her and the three met half way across the waiting room.

"Oh, Lily, I'm glad you've come... I'd thought–" But Marlene caught herself just in time. Her chocolate eyes met Lily's bright green ones as they understood each other: Marlene thought that Lily may have been called out to the attack as an Order member. "Anyway," Marlene continued, sounding slightly hysterical, "I can't talk long – they need me on the fourth floor. But as you've probably got, there has been a major Death Eater attack. We've got nearly forty that've died here alone. I want the two of you to start healing those here," she gestured to the waiting room, "most have minor injuries – cuts, burns, and things of the like. There are about ten Muggles here as well, heal them first and take them our usually conference room – someone from the Obliviator's Headquarters should be there soon. I'll come find you guys in a bit." With that, Marlene nearly ran down the corridor and to the third floor.

As much as Lily and Simone didn't like each other, they somehow worked together surprisingly well. They somehow managed to clear the room of its patients in a little over two hours. But Lily had a hard time concentrating on healing. She couldn't help but wonder how James was doing. She was half expecting – or maybe even half hoping – to see James among the less critically wounded.

Marlene came down shortly after Lily and Simone had finished in the waiting room they were giving their patient reports to Marlene when an all too familiar voice called out, "Lily!" from somewhere behind her.

She whipped around to see James carrying an unconscious blonde girl in his arms. She couldn't be more than five or six years old. Lily immediately ran towards him, followed closely by Marlene and Simone.

"What happened?" Lily asked as Marlene conjured a stretcher from thin air.

"We don't know her name yet," he replied as he carefully laid the limp girl on the stretcher. "We _do_ know that she is from a wizarding family: her parents put up one hell of a fight. Frank and I got there shortly after her parents died a Death Eater were torturing her with the Cruciatus Curse. She had passed out once the Death Eater saw us and lifted the curse."

Marlene, Lily, James, and Simone all rushed down the hall, each pushing part of the stretcher the girl was on. Finally they found an empty room, 112, and they wheeled her in.

James pulled Lily aside and said, "I'm gonna go back and find out who she is,"

Lily nodded and asked, "Are you alright?" in a concerned voice.

"Yeah," he said, not quiet meeting her eyes.

She gently put her hand on his cheek and gave him an encouraging smile, "I love you," she whispered softly.

"I love you, too," said as he laced his fingers with hers. "But right now, that little girl needs you more than I do,"

He gave her quick kiss before he Disapparated and she hurried into the room to try and save the girl.

000

Nearly two hours later, James stood in the doorway of room 112 to see the little blonde girl asleep a bed. Lily was there to; she had his back to him and was apparently gazing out the window.

He walked behind his wife and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn't jump; she knew his touch. Lily placed her hand on top of his and quietly asked, "Did you find anything out,"

"Yeah," he replied as he conjured a chair and sat next to his wife. She looked completely worn out. "Her name is Lindsay Ellis and she's five years old. Her parents, Mark and Brandy Ellis, were her only remaining family. We think they were attacked because Mark and Brandy were both Muggle-borns. How is she doing?"

"Marlene, Simone and I managed to heal her three broken ribs, and a punctured and deflated lung. She was unconscious until about half an hour ago, but when she woke up, she didn't talk, cry, ask for her Mum, nothing. We're not sure if she doesn't want to talk or if she can't. Marlene gave her a sleeping potion about ten minutes ago and she's been out ever since, and I've been here keeping an eye on her."

"How much longer do you think you'll be here?"

"I'm not sure, I kinda wanted to be here until she woke up, which should be in a few hours, but I don't know. Are you on your way home?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to see how you _both _were doing,"

She gave him a weak smile when Marlene came in.

"How is she?" Marlene immediately asked Lily.

"Same as when you left: asleep."

"And did you find anything out, James?" He told her exactly what he had told Lily.

"Poor girl," Marlene murmured as she looked down at the little girl. "Oh, Lily," she said, tearing her eyes away from Lindsay, "you can go home now, nearly all of the patients are stable and I just sent Simone home as well. And don't worry about coming in tomorrow; you and Simone have worked tomorrow's shift already. Thanks for coming in, Lil."

"No problem," Lily said as she and James both stood. "Glad to help,"

"So I guess I'll see you two tomorrow night at the meeting?" After every attack, there was always an Order meeting the next night.

"See you then," said James before he and Lily Disapparated to their apartment.

Once at home, they were both silent as they change back into their pajamas and crawled back into bed.

"I- I'm off t-tomorrow, too." yawned James as he wrapped his arms around his wife.

"Good, then we can both sleep in," she smiled at him.

They were both truly wiped out, physically and mentally, and Lily wanted nothing more than to fall asleep. But there was something that was bothering her.

"James?"

"Mmm?"

"What's going to happen to Lindsay?" It worried James to hear the fear in Lily's voice.

"I'm not sure...probably go into an orphanage, seeing as she's got no family." Through the little light there was in the bedroom, James could see Lily nodding slowly.

"Try to get some rest, Lils."

"I love you, James,"

"And I love you, too," He kissed her temple and soon after, fell asleep. Lily, however, stayed wake for another hour, watching the sun rise, and could not help but think of a sleeping five year old in St. Mungo's that had been through Hell and back.


	18. Compassion and Caring

A/N: I don't own Harry Potter, and don't forget to review! I will love you all forever! lol

Compassion and Caring

Over the next month, Lily went into work early every day and left late. Every day, she was the one who took care of Lindsay Ellis. And over that month, Lily had developed a special bond with the girl that had far surpassed the normal Healer/patient relationship. Lindsay had awoken a week after the attack, but still would not - or could not - talk.

Until...

Lily was half way through her shift when Simone had just come in. Lily, who was trying to get Lindsay to talk, hadn't noticed until Simone spoke.

"Is this all your going to do?"

Lily took a deep breath before standing and raising to her full height. Lindsay looked up at her care-giver with mild interest, as though curious as to what Lily would say or do next.

"Marlene told me to take care of Lindsay. If you have a problem with it, take it up with her," said Lily barely above a whisper, though Simone caught every word.

After glaring at each other, Simone said, "Oh trust me, I will," before turning on her heel and stomping out of the room.

Lily sat down next to Lindsay and rubbed her temples, taking deep breaths.

"Who was that?" Lindsay asked.

"That was Sim-" Then Lily realized that Lindsay had just spoken. She looked at the five year old in shock and amazement. But Lily kept talking, hoping Lindsay would not revert back to silence.

"That was Simone. She's also a Healer in training."

"She doesn't seem very nice."

Lily smiled. "No, she isn't."

"She's not going to take care of me, is she?" Lindsay sounded almost worried.

Lily leaned closer to Lindsay and said, "Not if I can help it," with a small wink.

Without warning, Lindsay threw her arms around Lily in a grateful hug. Lily's heart couldn't help but go out to this orphan. Lily rubbed the girl's back, trying to fight back tears.

"Are you hungry?" asked Lily once Lindsay had pulled away from her.

"Yeah,"

"What do you want to eat?"

Lindsay looked thoughtful for a moment before widely smiling and replying, "Grilled cheese!"

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," said Lily before leaving the room.

Her first thought was to find Marlene. After about ten minutes of searching, Lily found her talking with another Healer on the third floor. Lily nearly ran to Marlene.

"What's the matter, Lily?" asked Marlene, sounding slightly concerned.

"Nothing," Lily panted, "Lindsay is talking. I mean _really _talking, like nothing happened."

"What did she say?" Marlene sounded thrilled.

"Well..." Lily began as smile crept on her face. "She asked who Simone was and said she wasn't very nice. And she wants a grilled cheese sandwich to eat."

"This is fantastic, Lily! I don't know what you've been doing but keep it up. Go head and give her what she wants to eat and I'll be up there in bit." Lily turned to go, but Marlene pulled her back. "And I spoke to Simone," she began in a much lower voice than before, "and I basically told her to fuck off, but in a much nicer way. I know that you two don't exactly get along, but don't worry about it."

"Thanks,"

"Don't mention it,"

With a grateful smile, Lily went back to the fourth floor, conjured a grilled cheese and glass of milk for Lindsay, and went back into her room. Lindsay smiled when she saw Lily and sat up in her bed. Lily placed the tray over Lindsay's thighs and sat next to the bed as Lindsay started to eat.

She ate her meal in silence, occasionally glancing out of the window or at Lily. Once finished, Lily magically got rid of the tray and was about to say something when Lindsay said, "My Mummy and Daddy are gone, aren't they?" She was looking up at Lily with her light blue eyes glazed with tears.

Lily took a deep breath, once again fighting back tears, and sat next to Lindsay on her bed. She took Lindsay's small hands in hers and gently said, "Honey,...your mum and dad died...Do you understand?"

Lindsay nodded her head sadly as a tear slid down her face. "Mum said that my granddad died last year."

Now it was Lily's turn to nod. "It's the same thing."

"Are they in heaven?"

She couldn't stop herself any longer. Lily held her arms open and Lindsay crawled onto her lap. Lily slowly cradled her in her arms as she rocked back and forth as her own tears fell. "Yes, they are,"

000

As soon as Lily walked into her apartment later than night, she immediately headed for the bathroom. It was nearly ten. Usually, she wouldn't have stayed so long, but she knew James had to work late tonight. She drew herself a hot bath, filled it with plenty of bubble bath, walked down the hall, throwing her clothes off as she went, opened the linen's closet, wrapped a big blue towel around her now naked body, went back to her bathroom, and shut the door. She put the towel down and slid into her steamy bubble bath, leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes.

The events of the day seemed to wash over her when she realized something. She was getting emotionally attached to Lindsay. Was she caring to much, was she being to compassionate? That had been the whole reason that she'd been interested in Healing. Her father had always told her that she was a caring person and should put it to good use. Even by just growing up with her dad, Dr. Harold Evans, she had wanted to be a doctor; her childhood dream. And not much had changed - after all, a Healer was just a different name.

But now her loving, compassionate personality was coming back to bite her in the ass.

She wanted to care for Lindsay, and maybe a lot of it had to do with the fact that their was no one else _to _care of her. Hell, to be perfectly honest, she would probably take Lindsay home with her - she and James _did _have an extra bedroom. But she knew that she couldn't do that. Would Lindsay be sent to a Wizarding orphanage? Is there such a thing? She'd probably end up in one of those dirty orphanages that Muggle authors write about.

Just then, she heard someone walking down the hall, getting closer; more than likely James. But even if it wasn't, she was to worn out to move. Not that they could see anything, with all bubbles.

"You alright, Babe?"

Lily opened her eyes to see James leaning on the door frame, a concerned looked on his face.

"I have just had one of the best and worst days of my life." she replied sadly.

"What's happened?" he asked as he walked in and sat on the edge of the tub. She gave her husband the highs and lows of the day.

"So how much longer can you keep her in the hospital? It sounds like she's alright physically."

Lily sighed. "I don't know. Eventually, she'll have to go to an orphanage, unless they can find someone to adopt her before she's released, but I doubt that."

They were both silent for a few moments before James said, "You really care about her, don't you,"

She nodded, staring at the wall in front of her.

"I'm the only one she'll speak to," said Lily, finally looking at James again. "Marlene came in later, and she wouldn't talk to her. I feel like...like she's my responsibility, and I don't just mean because I'm taking care of her at the hospital. I almost wish that I wasn't so...so caring."

"That's one of the reasons why I love you so much. Maybe that's why she trusts you so much, because your so caring." His words were one of the few things that made her smile that day, which made him smile too.

"And how was your day?"

"Nothing special, but Sirius did tell me something that I'm sure is going to brighten your day,"

"What?"

"Sirius is getting bored with Simone."

"Really?" Lily almost sounded hopeful.

"He never said it, but I can tell. But, knowing him, he'll wait until she starts bitching about something, then blow it out of proportion and dump her,"

"I almost feel sorry for her..._almost_." she laughed.

"You know, you're gonna turn into a prune if you don't get out soon." James said, still smiling.

Lily laughed and stood up as James wrapped the towel around her and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm just going to get you soaking wet," she said, but she still didn't move out of his embrace.

"I don't care," he replied before he kissed the top of her wet red hair.

000

The next night, a Saturday, was a February's full moon, so James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter headed deep into a secluded forest, just as they had every full moon since leaving Hogwarts. This, of course, left Lily able to get Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth over for a good old fashion girls' night in. Lily's three best friends had just arrived, and were standing around the kitchen, waiting for their popcorn to finish popping, when they heard a knock at the door.

Lily, with a slightly confused look on her face, went to answer the door, and the other girls followed. But, seeing as they were in the middle of a war, and Lily was not a idiot, she looked through the peep whole first.

"Oh, shit," she murmured.

"Who is it?" asked Alice, her wand in her hand.

"Simone," Lily replied, and, as if on cue, her friends rolled their eyes and Elizabeth said, "Oh, wonderful," her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Lily opened the door. "Yes, Simone?"

Simone let herself in and said, "I'm looking for Sirius," as her eyes scanned the apartment. From the tone of her voice, it was obvious that Sirius didn't tell her where he was going, even though nearly everyone else in the room did. They all knew that Remus was a werewolf, but only Lily and Elizabeth knew that the other three Animagi.

"He's not here," said Lily as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. But she was frantically trying to think of an excuse, not only for Sirius, but for his friends - including her husband.

"Then where _is _he?"

"They're out" Elizabeth answered.

"But _where_?"

"Simone," Lily began, sounding overly patient, "If I knew, I would tell you, but the guys decided they were goin' out tonight, and, considering we're talking about James and Sirius leading, there's no telling where they'll end up."

"Which basically means they'll be bar-hopping tonight" Elizabeth intervened.

"You mean to tell me," said Simone, full of disbelief, "that you two trust James and Remus enough to let them do that when they have been known to cause mischief, for lack of a better word?"

Lily and Elizabeth glanced at each other briefly before the former answered, "Yes, I trust my husband completely."

And with one final glare at Lily, Simone stormed out of the apartment.

"So, does anyone wanna take bets on how much longer they'll last?" laughed Dorcas.

"Two weeks," said Elizabeth.

"One week," said Alice.

"Tomorrow night," said Lily as they all burst in to a fit of laughing as they made their way back to the kitchen.

"So Lils, what's up?" asked Alice, her tone suddenly serious.

"Whatdoyamean?" Lily said quickly.

"Something up, you seem kinda upset lately," said Dorcas. "Is something going on with you and James?"

"Oh, no...it's just...well..." she went on to tell them about Lindsay Ellis, how she was becoming attached to her, and her conversation with James last night. "What should I do?"

"First of all, James is right: there is nothing wrong with caring about Lindsay." said Elizabeth kindly.

"All you can do," added Dorcas, "is take care of her the best you can."

Lily nodded but stopped when noticed that Alice was in deep thought.

"What do you think, Alice?" asked Lily.

"Oh, nothing...just, nothing"

"Out with, Alice,"

"It's just...well, you said that you cared a great deal about Lindsay,"

"Yeah..."

"And that you would probably take her home if you could..."

"Yeah..."

"Well...why can't you?" they other girls looked at Alice oddly, so she continued, "You and James could be her foster family, er, hell, just adopt her."

"I couldn't do that," Lily quickly dismissed.

"And why not?" asked Elizabeth.

"Well, for one, I doubt James would want to adopt her...and I don't blame him; we've only been married a few months. And I doubt the Ministry or who ever deals with wizarding adoption would let two eighteen year olds - who, by the way, are deeply involved in the war - even adopt her, anyway."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask James and the Ministry," said Dorcas quietly as the other two nodded.

Lily fell silent as she sipped her wine. _They're right...it couldn't hurt to ask..._


	19. Going Home

A/N: First of all, I really want to thank everyone who has reviewed this story. Right now I've had 216 reviews – that's more than I ever thought I would have! I can't tell you how much those reviews mean to me. But I need to say something; I'm not the perfect writer. (Big surprise, right?) There are going to be _some _grammatical mistakes in nearly every chapter. I've gone over this one pretty throughly, so there shouldn't be many mistakes in this one. Eventually, I'll go back and make corrections to this story, but that wouldn't be until after I finish the next story I've got planned.

Oh yeah, while I'm thinking about it, I'm hoping to finish this story by August. I'm pretty sure I'll finish before then, but I'm really shooting for the end of the summer

I know this has probably seemed like a rant, but without further ado...chapter nineteen!

Going Home

Lily tried to find any sign that James wanted to have a child, so she could casually bring up Lindsay and her possible adoption. But after a week, she decided to grit her teeth and just do it. And she had to do it soon; Marlene said that a representative from the Ministry would be coming tomorrow to discuss what was going to happen to Lindsay.

They were sitting on their living room floor, eating dinner. They did this so often that Lily was beginning to wonder why they even had a table. She was staring at the floor, going over different ways about how she could bring this up.

But Lily's thoughts were interrupted when James asked, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. It's nothing,"

"It doesn't sound like nothing."

Lily sighed and she said, "Someone from the Ministry is coming tomorrow to decide what's gonna happen to Lindsay." She suddenly felt tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. "Everyday, _I _am the one who helps her brush her teeth in the morning, who knows she likes bubbles in her bath, who reads to her when she's tired. And now – " tears finally fell down her cheeks, "and now they're sending someone in, who is probably going just scare Lindsay and tell her that she has to live with total strangers."

James wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she buried her head in his chest and sobbed.

"Have you thought about adopting her?" he asked in a would-be casual voice.

Lily lifted her head and just stared at him for a few seconds. Even then, all she could say was "_What?_"

"Have you?"

"A little," she replied in a low voice. To her shock, James smiled.

"I'm not surprised...and, to be honest...I have been too."

Lily's eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly. She somehow managed to find her voice, somewhat scratchy, and said, "And?"

"Well, I would like to meet her first, and I think it would be good if she lived here for a bit before we decided anything final, but eventually...I don't see why not."

There were no words. All at once, her emotions seemed to be thrown into overdrive. More tears fell down her face as she flung her arms around James's neck.

"I've got tomorrow off, so why don't I go with you to the hospital so I can meet her?"

She looking into her husband's hazel eyes, her own emerald ones glazed over with tears. "That would be great,"

000

Lily lead James down the familiar route to Lindsay's room. When they arrived, Marlene was standing outside the door talking with a very straight-laced man dressed in black robes who looked to be in his mid to late forties.

"That must be the representative from the Ministry" she whispered and James nodded his head.

"Ah, Lily, there you are and...James, as well," said Marlene as she turned her attention to the young couple, sounding slightly surprised. "This is Mr. Lynch. He has taken up Lindsay's case.

Maybe it was because this man was threatening to take Lindsay or maybe that he seemed a little too arrogant for Lily's taste, but this Lynch guy really bugged her.

"Lily, why don't you go ahead and introduce Mr. Lynch to Lindsay and I'll take James to the tea room,"

000

Lily led Mr. Lynch into Lindsay's room. The five year old had colored pencils and a coloring books spread across her lap, both of which Lily had bought for her. She looked up from the brown dog she was coloring when Lily and Mr. Lynch came in.

"Lindsay?" she began, "This is Mr. Lynch and he wants to talk to you,"

Mr. Lynch said, "Hello." Lindsay looked up at the tall man and her brow furrowed; she seemed to be as fond of him as Lily was.

Then Lynch turned his attention to Lily. "I want to get right down to business, Mrs. Potter." he sounded as though he were starting a Wizengamot trial. "We have a couple who is interested in meeting Ms. Ellis-"

"Her name is Lindsay, and she's sitting right here so I would appreciate it if you spoke to her accordingly." Lily interrupted in a cold voice.

"The couple in question," Lynch continued as though Lily had not spoken, "is Mr. Rodolphus and Mrs. Bellatrix Lestrange, and they have arranged to meet Ms. Ellis tomorrow morning. Mrs. Potter? Are you feeling alright?"

At the mention of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, Lily's eyes widened and she could feel the color drain from her face. The Order of the Phoenix had been trying to catch the Lestrange's at something, and had so far failed to get enough solid evidence for Moody to report to the Ministry.

"I-I-," she began to stammer, "I don't think th-that would be a g-good idea,"

"And why is that?"

_Because they're Death Eaters! They were probably the ones who killed Lindsay's parents and put her in here in the first place, you bloody moron, _she screamed in her head, but actually said, "Well...I knew Bellatrix, she was a few years ahead of my husband and I at school and she was cared a very great deal about one's blood status: nothing less than a pureblood was good enough for her, which is more than likely why she married into the Lestrange family to begin with. Lindsay's parents were both Muggle-borns, and if they knew, Rodolphus and Bellatrix would probably make Lindsay's life a living hell, treating her subhumanly." Lily could remember all too well how both Bellatrix, and her sister Narcissa, would call her Mudblood nearly every time they were within earshot of her.

"Then what do you suggest we do with her?" Mr. Lynch replied coldly.

"My husband and I have been discussing the possibility of us caring for her. He came with me today so he could meet her."

"First, the two of you will need to answer some questions."

"Like what?"

"How long the two of you have been married, your ages, incomes, and you'll need two letters of recommendation,"

"Well, we've been married for three months, two weeks, and six days; James just turned nineteen last month and I am eighteen. I'll have to get back to you about our income and the recommendations."

It was then that Lily realized that Lindsay was lightly tugging on Lily's robes. Lindsay gazed up at Lily and said, "I don't wanna leave you," with tears in her eyes as she flung her arms around Lily's leg, clinging to it for dear life.

"You see!" Lily screamed, "She doesn't want to be with anyone else. I was the first person she even spoke to after her parents were murdered. She trusts me. You can't rebuild a trust like that in a short amount of time. She needs stability...she needs me," she ended with an almost pleading tone to her shaky voice as she lifted Lindsay into her arms and rocked her.

Lynch looked surprised that one human being could care so much for another. "I think I've seen all I need to see," he said before he let himself out of the hospital.

000

When Marlene and James returned, nearly half an hour after Mr. Lynch had left, they found Lily sitting on Lindsay's bed and reading her a book. She stopped reading when she heard them enter.

"Oh, good," Lily said, more to herself than anyone, as she placed the book down on the bedside table and gestured them to come closer.

"Lindsay, this is my husband, James Potter. James, this is Lindsay," she introduced.

"Hello, Lindsay," he said kindly.

"Hello,"

"And how are you feeling today?"

"Alright."

James and Lindsay made small talk while Marlene pulled Lily aside.

"So how did it go with Lynch?" Marlene asked. Lily gave her a rundown of what had happened.

"Yeah, I thought something like that would happen. He seemed like a real asshole. I don't understand why Lestranges want to adopt Lindsay, though."

"James said the Death Eater who was torturing Lindsay managed to escape," she said quietly, "It could have easily been Rodolphus or even Bellatrix. And now they want to finish the job. It would be easy for them to stage a Death Eater attack, considering they _are_ Death Eaters. And if the Ministry thought they were attacked, the Lestranges wouldn't be suspected as being Death Eaters any longer."

"Kinda like killing two birds with one stone,"

"Exactly,"

000

That night, Lily and James got an owl from Sirius, saying that he needed to talk with them.

The second they walked though the door, he said, "I just broke up with Simone,"

Both James and Lily's eyes widened with shock and Lily tried to suppress a smile by asking, "Why?"

"Because of you, Lil," he replied simply.

"Are you trying to say you're in love with me?" failing to conceal her smile.

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Sirius laughed. "She told me that you and James are considering adopting or at least letting that Lindsay girl live with you – which James had already told me, of course. But she sounded as though the two of you were totally nuts and we started fighting and I told her I was sick of her constant bitching and to get the hell out of my apartment."

"You don't sound too upset about it," said James from the refrigerator as he tossed Sirius a butterbeer, and helping himself to one as well.

"I'm not...I've been meaning to end it for a while,"

Just then an owl tapped on the window. Neither of the guys noticed, as they were too busy talking about how much of a controlling bitch Simone was, so Lily opened the window to let the owl in. She was surprised when the owl didn't fly to Sirius, but instead, held its leg out for Lily to take the scroll.

It was a short note, scribbled in a hurry, that read:

_Lily, _

_They're trying to take Lindsay. Get here A.S.A.P._

_-Marlene_

Lily felt her stomach tie itself into knots. She hurried over to James, gave him the note, and said, "I've gotta get to the hospital...I'll meet you at home," she kissed him, said goodbye to Sirius, and Dissapparated before either of the guys could say a word.

000

"What's going on!" Lily screamed as she burst through the doors of Lindsay's room. What she saw made her nearly go through the roof. Marlene was standing on the far side of Lindsay's bed, nearly yelling at Lynch, who was standing nearest to Lily, trying to pull a red faced and crying Lindsay from her bed. They all stopped and looked at Lily; Mr. Lynch was the first to answer, one arm still grasping Lindsay's wrist.

"The Ministry has decided that Ms. Ellis would be best in a Muggle orphanage. I'm very sorry," though he didn't sound it, "but I must take Ms. Ellis tonight."

"You can't do this," said Lily as she moved closer to Lindsay.

"I have to. Unless you suggest somewhere she can stay until someone adopts her, if that ever happens."

"I'll take her," Lily said simply.

"You couldn't possibly. Neither you nor your husband are qualified –"

"Qualified!" Now she had been pushed over the edge. "What is that suppose to mean? I would and have cared for Lindsay as if she is my own daughter, and my husband feels the same. Surely she would be much safer with us than in some - some _orphanage_."

Lynch seemed to be searching for some type of come back. "You don't have the Ministry approval," he mumbled.

"I don't care,"

Lindsay had finally removed her grasp from Mr. Lynch, hopped out of bed, and ran behind Lily.

"Please..." Lily was nearly begging at this point, "Please...don't do this to her...to _us_..."

Finally, he caved. "Fine, but only until more permanent measures can be arranged."

"Thank you,"

He nodded curtly to Lily before leaving.

It only took Lily and Marlene ten minutes to gather all of Lindsay's things before Lily, with Lindsay in her arms, were heading out of St. Mungo's into Muggle London. But before they could pass though the exit, however, Marlene stopped them.

"Just for the record, I have a lot of respect for you and James for this. My little girl is three, and I couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen to her if something happened to me and my husband...And you may as well take tomorrow off so you can make arrangements.

"Thanks,"

000

Lindsay and Lily walked into Muggle London together. Lindsay had finally calmed down and was nearly asleep on Lily's hip as Lily hailed a cab. They had settled in the back and the cab took off to James and Lily's apartment.

"Are we going home?" Lindsay asked sleepily, barely lifting her head off Lily's shoulder..

Lily stroked her little blonde head fondly as she replied, "Yeah, we are,"


	20. Twice Defied

Twice Defied

The minute Lily walked through her door carrying a sleeping Lindsay, James was there to greet them. "What happened?" he whispered as he took the bag that had Lindsay's things from his wife.

"Lynch came back and tried to take her," she replied just as quietly. "After arguing back and forth he said we could take her for now."

James nodded as they walked into in to their second bedroom. He pulled back the covers of the bed as Lily laid Lindsay down and took her shoes off.

Once Lindsay was tucked in, James and Lily went back to their living room were they sunk onto the couch. They were silent for a few minutes before Lily asked, "Now what?"

"Doesn't St. Mungo's have a daycare?"

"Oh, yeah...I almost forgot. I could just take her to work with me. I think Marlene had said something about the hospital also having a type of basic education program set up, too..."

"Do you think she'd be up to meeting everyone? I mean, just our close friends, your mum and my parents."

"I think so...she'll need to meet everyone eventually, so the sooner, the better. We could maybe set something up this weekend." Then, she started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" he smiled.

"We've told everyone that I was taking care of Lindsay, but we never said anything about letting her _live _with us, well except to Sirius. They're gonna be surprised..."

Now it was James's turn to laugh. "Can't you just imagine the looks on their faces," James's eyes widen and his mouth fell open in imitation of their friends and family before they both started laughing nearly uncontrollably.

000

Over the next few days, James, Lily and Lindsay all started to get adjusted to their new arrangements. And while it was not easy to one day being childless to the next having full responsibility for a five year old girl, James and Lily both knew that everything would work out. So in just those few days, things went rather smooth. They managed to contact their friends and family to invite them to their apartment that Saturday, though they didn't say why. Once everyone (Sirius, Remus, Alice, Frank, Elizabeth, Dorcas, Sarah Evans, Daniel and Marie Potter, Peter, and – to nearly everyone's surprise – Josefine) were sitting in the living room, Dorcas finally asked what everyone was wondering.

"Guys, what's going on?"

Lily glanced at James before answering, "We wanted to tell you guys something. But, I think it would be easier to show you," she got up and left everyone in the living room to go into Lindsay's room.

Lindsay, who was sitting on her bed flipping through one of her picture books, looked up when she heard Lily come in.

"Are you ready to meet everyone?" Lily asked.

Lindsay nodded as she stood up and took Lily's hand. Together, they went into the living room. Everyone, who looked as if they had been asking James what was going on, turned to Lily and Lindsay.

"This is Lindsay Ellis and she'll be stay with us for a while."

"Is this the same girl you have been caring for at the hospital?" asked Mrs. Evans.

"Yeah," Lily launched into the story of how Lindsay had come to stay with her and James.

Everyone was thrilled – except one person; Josefine. But Sirius was the only one who noticed. Sirius, who was sitting next to Remus, elbowed his friend in the ribs. Remus looked at him in confusion, but Sirius nodded in Josefine's direction. She had a bitter look of recognition on her face as she looked at Lindsay.

Josefine suddenly glanced at her watch and stood up and said, "I'm really sorry guys, but I just remembered I have to meet my mum in a few minutes," before she let herself out of the apartment.

"What was that about?" Sirius quietly asked Remus.

"I have no idea."

000

Once out of the Potter's apartment, Josefine Apparated, not her mother's, but to her best friend's.

"Bella!" Josefine called though the large manor.

"Yes, Josefine, what is it?" said Bellatrix Lestrange as she came down the grand staircase.

"James and Lily Potter have that Ellis girl you'd mentioned."

Bellatrix gave Josefine an evil smile. "Good, now I can finish what I started..." she drawled on, "I shall tell our Master. Now, tell me, where are the Potters living?"

000

It was getting late, but nearly everyone was still at James and Lily's apartment. Only Lily's mother had left, considering she had an hour drive home. Lily looked around at her friends. Dorcas and Sirius were talking to Frank and Alice about the Order; Remus had his arm around Elizabeth and were whispering to each other, both of them smiling; Lily was sitting with James, with Lindsay on his lap, and his parents.

They suddenly heard a loud bang from outside the building. Sirius, who was standing the closest to the window, looked below. What he saw made his blood run cold: more Death Eaters than he could count were streaming into the building.

"Death Eaters!" He managed to yell before ten of them Apparated into the apartment.

James handed Lindsay to Lily, who ran down the hall to Lindsay's room. Lily tried to put her down, but she screamed and wouldn't let go of Lily.

"Lindsay, I need you to hide, okay? You're going to be fine, I promise, but you need to get rid of those bad men." Lily ran to the closet and put Lindsay down. "Stay here and be quiet, okay,"

"Okay,"

She kissed Lindsay's forehead before she shut the closet door, ran out the room and locked the door magically.

Before she could get to the living room, two masked Death Eaters met her in the hall way. She fought the both of them for what seemed like forever before she finally got one of them with a Stunning Spell. And the other fell right after. Confused, Lily looked up to see Remus still pointing at the fallen Death Eater.

"Thanks," she said, trying to catch her breath.

"No problem. Alice sent her Patronus to Dumbledore, so help should be here soon. We've chased most of them out of the apartment, except for a few. James, Alice, and Frank are still here fighting them. Everyone else went down the hall to help some of the Muggles. It looks like they're attacking the whole damn building."

Lily nodded before the two of them set off for the living room. James, Alice, and Frank were tying the Death Eaters they had been fighting.

"I'm going to help the others," said Remus before he ran out of the apartment.

"You guys okay?" Lily asked.

"Alright, you?" answered Alice.

"Fine."

"Well...look at what we have here..." The four of them turned to see Lord Voldemort accompanied by two Death Eaters, sneering at them. "I have failed to kill you four once already, but I won't make that mistake again."

Frank and Alice ran forward to duel with Voldemort while James and Lily took on the Death Eaters. Curses and spells fired in every which way, leaving numerous burn marks on the walls, and breaking windows.

Lily fell to the ground, screaming in agony as the all too familiar sensation of being stabbed with white hot knives over took her. Once the curse was lifted, she saw the two Death Eaters run down the hall. James's face swam into her view.

"Lily!" he cried as he tapped her cheek.

"I'm okay." She finally managed to stand and once she regained her balance, she and James rushed to Alice and Frank's aid.

How long the four of them fought Voldemort, Lily never knew. But one thing was curtain, they were starting to weaken. They're responses were slowing down, which was not a good thing.

Then Lily heard a faint _pop _from behind her and a familiar calm voice say, "Hello, Tom,"

She didn't even need to turn around to know how it was that had come to their aid – only one man could make Voldemort's face fill with such fear.

Dumbledore took up the battle as Lily rushed down the hall, James, Alice and Frank at her heels. But before she could reach Lindsay's room, Lily could hear her pleading screams.

In a shower of blue sparks, Lily burst through the door. But she was too late...

"_Avada Kedavra!_" one of the Death Eaters cried. With a flash of blinding green light, Lindsay fell to the floor.

"NO!" Lily screamed as she ran into the room. But once the Death Eater saw her, they Disapparated.

Lily crouched next to Lindsay's limb body and sobbed. James kneeled next to her and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her as Alice and Frank watched sadly from the doorway.

000

Cornelius Fudge, Junior Minister for the Department of Magical Catastrophes, stepped over a broken lamp in the Potters' apartment to speak with Albus Dumbledore.

"Ah, there you are Albus. Do you know were James Potter is?"

"James is in the apartment directly above us, owned by Elizabeth Parr and Dorcas Meadows. James and Lily have just lost a girl that they were caring for. And just why do you need him?"

"Dreadful news, just dreadful. I've just heard that Daniel and Marie Potter were killed just a floor below. Apparently, they were trying to help a young Muggle family escape when what appears to be five Death Eaters stormed the apartment. No one survived, and the Death Eaters had already left when the Aurors had arrived. And since James was their only son, he needs to be notified." Fudge turned away to find James.

"Cornelius, wait" said Dumbledore somberly. "I should tell him,"

"You sure, Dumbledore?"

"Yes,"

000

It was near midnight by the time Lily and James had finished talking with the Aurors about what had happened. Dorcas and Elizabeth knew the last place that Lily wanted to be was in her apartment, where Lindsay had died, so they invited Lily and James back to their apartment, waiting for news of everyone else. Shortly after midnight, Sirius and Remus came back to Dorcas and Elizabeth's to say that Peter was alright and had just left for his house, Frank and Alice were still with the Aurors, but they still hadn't heard about James's parents yet.

"But I'm sure they're fine," Sirius had said confidently to James.

The six friends were sitting around the kitchen table, sipping on hot tea, not saying a word. They all felt terrible for Lily and could not say anything that would ease her mind. But they didn't need to; just the fact that they were there was enough for Lily.

She turned to Dorcas and asked, "When had Frank and Alice fought Voldemort before tonight," not really caring about the answer, but trying to think of something other than Lindsay's death.

"The night when Lin – I mean, one night in early January." Dorcas answered.

That was when they heard a soft knocking at the door. Wordlessly, Elizabeth answered it and was surprised to see her former Headmaster at the door.

"Professor, what are you doing here?"

"Please forgive my intrusion, but I need to speak with James. Is he still here?" Even though he sounded upbeat, there was an unexplainable sadness his blue eyes.

"Yeah, he is," she said as she let him in and led him to the kitchen.

"Hello everyone...James I have some information...about your parents." Dumbledore said somberly.

Everyone tensed as James nodded for him to continue.

"From what I have heard, they were trying to help a Muggle family escape the attack when...when what is believed to be five Death Eaters attacked. Neither of them survived, James."

James stared at his former Headmaster as the information sank in. He slowly put his head in his shaking hands, willing himself not to be sick. From somewhere to his right, Lily was affectionately stroking his arm. He could hear Dumbledore offering his condolences and he found himself nodding. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, but he didn't care.

His parents couldn't be gone – they just couldn't be. Mere hours ago they were saying how proud they were of him and Lily for taking Lindsay in. He suddenly felt claustrophobic; he quickly moved away from the table, towards the window. James leaned on the window ledge, placing his forehead against the cool glass, breathing deeply.

He then became aware that Lily was rubbing the small of his back.

"James?" she said both cautiously and gently, "Sirius said that we could stay at his place tonight. Do you want to go there?"

Still looking out of the window, he nodded and let Lily lead him to the fireplace. Without really thinking about it, James grabbed some Floo powder, said Sirius's apartment number and location, and walked into the green flames.

000

James looked around the apartment he used to share with his friend. It was nearly pitch black and so...so calm. How could it be so calm when he felt like screaming, like ripping something apart? His gaze landed on a chair...and for some reason, throwing it though the window seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing.

Just then, he realized that Sirius and Lily had made it through the fireplace. Lily had sat down on the couch, which Sirius was now leading him towards. As soon as he sat next to his wife, he seemed to slump over and put his head in her lap as she absentmindedly rubbed his shoulder.

"I just can't believe it," Sirius was muttering from the kitchen. He came back with a half empty bottle of firewisky, not even bothering with glasses.

He sat down in an arm chair opposite James and Lily and took a swig. "What a night," he mumbled miserably into the bottle as he took another drink.

James looked up at Lily. She was wiping silent tears from her eyes – wether they were for his parents or Lindsay, he didn't know. _Probably both,_ the reasonable part of his mind thought.

"This may not mean anything now," said Sirius, "but I want you to know that I am truly sorry about what happened tonight, to the both of you" he nodded to Lily. "Prongs, you know better than anyone what you're parents' kindness has meant to me, and I will never forget it."

"I know, Padfoot."

"Now if you two don't mind," Sirius said as he stood up, "I'm going to finish off this bottle and more than likely pass out on my bed,"

"G'night" James and Lily said as Sirius staggered into his bedroom and shut the door.

They were silent for a few minutes before Lily couldn't take it any longer. She stood up, leaving James on the couch, as she paced up and down the living room, her hands over her mouth, trying to stop her tears.

"This is all my fault," she cried. "If I hadn't been so selfish, none of this would have happened. I should have just let that Lynch man take her to an orphanage – at least she'd still be alive! And I wouldn't have put your mum and dad in that danger. Everything that happened tonight was because of me,"

"Lils, come and sit down," She did.

"You listen to me, Lily" said James as he tilted her chin up. "None of this was you fault. I don't blame you for this, and you shouldn't either...It's not you fault that they're..."

But he couldn't finish his sentence. The tears that had been threatening to fall finally did. He buried his head on her shoulder and let the tears fall. She held him as they both cried until they fell asleep.

A/N: I know that you guys probably really hate me right now, but I had to kill all three of them off. I hated to do it...honestly, I did. Please review!


	21. New Beginnings

A/N: Thanks for all of your reviews! I know its been a while, but I've had serious writers block, but here it is. And ya'll know that I don't own it - no matter how much I wish I did.

New Beginnings

They were still staying with Sirius and Remus – neither James nor Lily really wanted to go back to their own apartment, and the guys couldn't blame them. They had only gone back to get necessary things and were looking for a new home to buy.

Lindsay's funeral was very small. In fact, the only people who knew of it were Lily's mum, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Alice, Frank, Dorcas, Elizabeth, Marlene, and Dumbledore. Josefine knew as well (through Peter) but had made up some excuse so she wouldn't have to go.

They buried Lindsay next to her parents; somehow, it was fitting. By the time the day of her funeral came, four days after her death, Lily seemed to have fallen into some kind of trance. She no longer cried hysterically, but silent tears seemed to leak from her emerald green eyes. The entire day of the funeral seemed to past in a depressing blur. Looking back on it, the whole day seemed like a nightmare. But the one thing she clung to that day was James. She couldn't have walked through the cemetery if he hadn't been holding her upright. Lily knew that James was going through more then she was – after all, James had lost his parents – but the fact that he was still strong for her despite everything he was going through gave Lily strength.

Unlike Lindsay's funeral, Daniel and Marie Potter's funeral took much longer to plan. Everything went into much deeper detail, and not just because of the funeral itself. A few days before the funeral, some one from the Ministry had come to James and Lily to go over his parents' will. There really wasn't a whole lot to it – as James was their only son, he got everything from their vault and their house – but after words, he felt beat. Somehow, it seemed so final.

000

James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Elizabeth, Alice, Dorcas, and Peter were sitting around Sirius and Remus's apartment, no one saying a word. They had just come back from burying James's parents. _If two hundred people didn't show up, no one did,_ Lily thought as she stared at the floor. It seemed like the most Ministry had come, not to mention the entire Order of the Phoenix and many of their fellow classmates as well. Lily didn't know hardly any of them, and James didn't seem to know many more than her. Many of them said the same thing, "Terrible, absolutely terrible," or "What a shame,".

But however horrible that day was, like all others, it did come to an end.

000

About two weeks later, James and Lily were laying around Sirius and Remus's apartment, searching through _The Daily Prophet _and a few Muggle newspapers that were spread across the living room floor for houses that were for sale. Sirius was out on a date with some long legged brunette and Remus was with Elizabeth. Needless to say, they didn't expect either of them back for quite a while.

"How bout this one," said James as he showed the ad to Lily, "Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, large family room, just outside of Hogsmeade."

She carefully looked at the picture. "The yard is pretty small," she said as they kept looking through the newspapers.

Eventually, they found a few houses that they wanted to see, and were talking about when they could see them, when Remus came in.

"Hey Remus," said Lily, but when she turned to look at him, she noticed that he had a dumb sort of smile on his face. Apparently, James noticed as well.

"What's up, Moony?" he asked his friend, his voice filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Remus replied softly. "Its just...well, I went over to my parents house for lunch, and, just out of the blue, I realized that I want to marry Elizabeth."

Lily's eyes widened and James gave his friend a knowing smile and said, "Well, it's about time! So did you ask her tonight?"

"No, but when I told my parents, my mum gave me my grandmother's engagement ring." He put a hand into his robes and pulled out a silver banded ring with a good sized diamond in the middle, surrounded by smaller ones.

"It's beautiful," Lily said quietly.

Suddenly they heard a faint _pop_ from the kitchen as they turned to see Sirius.

"What's up guys?"

"Well, Remus has some interesting news," said Lily, grinning widely.

"And what's that?" Sirius replied

"I'm going to ask Elizabeth to marry me,"

"Well, it's about time!"

000

Over the next week, Remus grew more nervous over the prospect of having to propose to his girlfriend. He talked to James about his nerves, as he was the only one of them to have proposed, and James would tell him how nervous he had been before he asked Lily to marry him. "But you've just gotta take a deep breath and do it – kinda like ripping a band-aid off." He would constantly reassure his friend.

Meanwhile, James and Lily kept up the search for a new house. In four days, they went through three houses, and they didn't like any of them. Finally on a Saturday, they were supposed to meet with a Muggle realtor to look at a few houses in a small Muggle town just north of London. Both James and Lily were on pins and needles all day because Remus was suppose to propose to Elizabeth.

Lily and James apparated just outside the first house a little before noon. It was a large, two story brick home made Lily's jaw nearly drop.

"Wow," she said barely above a whisper as she and James started to walk up the paved drive.

"It's huge,"

"It's not as big as your parents' home, though,"

Lily looked around at the other homes that surrounded the one they were looking at. They all seemed to have the same amount of land, where all big and well kept. Two of the surrounding homes looked as though they had children living there as well, judging by the play swing sets and plastic playgrounds.

They heard a car driving down the road and turned to see who they were pretty sure was their realtor parking next to the house. Once he stepped out of the car, they saw he was wearing a navy blue suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. He was an older man with salt and pepper hair with a kind smile. As he approached James and Lily he said, "Ah, and you must be the Potters. My name is Walt Glasgow."

"Hello, I'm James and this is my wife, Lily,"

"It's very nice to meet you two. So, let's go ahead and go inside."

James and Lily followed Walt into the house as he asked, "So, how long have you two been married?"

"Nearly four months," Lily answered as the realtor unlocked the front door. They stepped into a beautiful foyer.

"Now, if you will just follow me, I'll show you around."

It was a beautiful house. The first floor had a large living room – complete with a brick fireplace – big kitchen and dining room, bathroom, utility room, and two-car garage – though they probably wouldn't use that. The second floor had another bathroom, a walk in closet, three bedrooms, and a master bedroom connected to a huge bathroom that had a jacuzzi tub and glass shower – both large enough to easily fit two people.

Once down stairs, Walt turned to the young couple and asked, "Well, what did you think?"

Lily glanced up at James, a huge smile on her face and whispered, "I love it,"

James smiled too. "We'll take it,"

"Don't you want to see the other homes?" He seemed shocked that they would make such a decision so fast.

"Yeah," Lily and James smiled.

000

After about an hour or so of going over paper work for buying the house, James and Lily finally apparated back to Sirius and Remus's apartment where they found Sirius nearly pacing the floor.

"No sign of Remus yet, huh?" asked James.

"No," Sirius replied, sounding slightly worried.

"Where you like this when James proposed to me?"

"No," said Sirius, trying to sound put together, but when James and Lily gave him doubtful looks, he shrugged and mumbled, "it was worse," under his breath before changing the subject. "So how was the house hunting?"

"We bought one," said James casually as Sirius's eyes widened and Lily laughed.

"Are you serious?"

"No, _you're _Sirius."

"Ha, ha, like I haven't heard that one before...so what's it like?"

James and Lily started to describe the house – _their _house – when an owl began to tap on the window. They immediately recognized the owl as Elizabeth's and Sirius began to read the note before the owl was even out the window again.

Suddenly, he started to laugh.

"What's it say?" Lily asked.

Regaining his composure slightly, he began to read, "She said yes, but don't expect me back soon,"

"YES!" Lily screamed, "I knew it!" She threw her arms around James as he returned the hug.


	22. Moving In

Moving In

Over the next few weeks, James and Lily were preparing to move into their new house. They had managed to salvage a few things from their old apartment, but not much had survived the attack. But this only gave Lily an excuse to go shopping, so it really didn't bother her too much. James, on the other hand, had to nearly be dragged to every store. He tried to convince Lily that he trusted her judgment about different types of furniture and decorations, so therefore he really didn't have to go, but she didn't buy it for a minute. "But your going to live there, too, remember? I _need _your input." She would constantly remind him.

So finally at the beginning of April, they were ready for the move. They decided to do it on a Saturday morning, so they wouldn't have to worry about work – not to mention so that their friends couldn't use the I'm-sorry-I-can't-help-you-move-because-I'm-working excuse. Not that their friends were unwilling to help. Sirius himself had even said, "Hey, it can't be that hard. I mean, a few spells and this'll be a piece of cake."

Unfortunately, Lily had to burst his bubble. "Um, Sirius, we're moving into a Muggle neighborhood."

"Yeah," he replied, obviously not following.

"Which means that we can't use magic."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"No, as a matter of fact, we need to get to the storage place where we have most of our stuff, because a Muggle moving truck is going to be there pretty soon."

"And who in the hell is gotta drive it?"

"I am,"

000

"Lily, not all of this stuff is gonna fit in one truck," said Elizabeth, who was proudly wearing her new engagement ring. She, Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were at the storage facility that was just outside of the town Lily and James were moving to.

"Okay, okay," said Lily, throwing her hands up in surrender, "One charm to make the inside bigger than it looks, but that's it."

000

Twenty minutes later, they were pulling up next to James and Lily's new home. All six were sitting comfortably in the moving truck; Lily had once again let them use magic.

"Wow," said Elizabeth as Lily parked the truck in the driveway. They all managed to clamor out of the truck and walked around the back. As they opened the back, Lily suddenly felt overwhelmed. She looked around at everyone; they looked like she felt. "Well, if we put charms on everything while its still in the truck, and make it _look_ its heavy, then the Muggles will never even know."

"Alright," said James, looking slightly more cheerful as he climbed into the truck, "Lets get going,"

000

About an hour or so later, everything was out of the truck and in the house. Lily was still concerned about letting them use magic; the Marauders had never been very subtle about anything, but everything was going smoothly enough. Another three hours passed and nearly every box was in the right room; the boxes with _kitchen _written on them were in the kitchen and so on. James and Lily had just said goodbye to their friends. Sirius had wanted to drive the moving truck back to London, but Lily, who knew that this could not be a good idea, gave the keys to Elizabeth.

Lily and James were once again inside their new house, staring at the unopened boxes.

"So where do you want to start?" Lily asked.

"How about the bedroom?" James said casually, though his mischievous smile was in place.

"I should have known," she giggled, but started up the stairs with James close behind her. Unpacking really wasn't as bad as they thought. Nearly everything was shrunken down to fit in a box, so getting their bedroom ready didn't take too long.

Lily was straightening out the comforter when James wrapped his arms around her and lightly kissed her neck.

"I think it's about time that we break in our new home..."

Lily rolled her eyes at the ceiling, but turned around to kiss him anyway. But just when things were getting good, their door bell rang.

"If that is Sirius, I'm gonna kill him." James said in a deadly voice. Lily laughed as they started down the stairs, re-buttoning her shirt.

Once at the front door, Lily looked through the peep hole – figuring that if it was Sirius she could tell him to go away. But it wasn't Sirius.

Standing on the front porch was a slender woman in her mid to late thirties with short brown hair and pale green eyes. Confused, Lily opened the door.

"Hello!" the woman said brightly. "My name is Maggie Hale and my husband and I saw you two moving in. I just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the neighborhood."

Slightly taken back, Lily opened the door a little wider and invited her in. After the general round of introductions, and getting some tea, Lily asked where Maggie lived.

"Oh just across the street in the brick house,"

"Lil," James interrupted, "I'm going to get something from the kitchen,"

"Ok, dear," Lily replied, though she knew very well that he wouldn't come back until Maggie Hale left. "So," Lily continued, trying not to sound to awkward, "you said you were married?"

"Yes, my husband Mark and I have been married for fifteen years. And we have two children. John is thirteen and Katie is eight." Lily nodded politely as she reached for her cup.

"So what brings you two here?" Maggie asked, trying – and failing – not to sound nosy.

Lily took a long drink from her cup, trying to buy herself some time. She obviously couldn't tell her Muggle neighbor that the most feared Dark Wizard of all time and his minions had attacked their apartment, killed the five year old girl that was living with them and her in-laws. "Well, we just thought it was time for a change."

For the next twenty minutes, Maggie went on and on about how wonderful of a town this was. Lily wasn't sure if she wanted to bang her head or Maggie's on the table.

Finally, Maggie got up to leave. "I really must get going. I guess I'll see you around."

"Bye," Lily said in the most cheery voice she could muster before Maggie left.

Slowly, Lily made her way back to the kitchen to find James. He was leaning against the bar and when he saw his wife, a faint smile crept onto his face.

"So how is Mrs. Hale?" he sarcastically asked.

"Ha, ha. She's really not that bad, you know. She just –"

"Nosy,"

Well, I was gonna say she just loves to talk, but, yeah," Lily giggled as she ran her fingers through his messy hair. "You just don't like her cause we could be having sex, but instead she came over,"

"Well then, we'll just have to fix that, won't we?" he said has he set Lily on the bar before kissing her fiercely as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Wait," Lily said, coming up for breath, "Maggie is probably watching us through her curtains,"

"Well, then I hope that she's taking notes,"

A/N: I'm thinking of posting another L/J fic. This one will be AU where Lily and James survive. If it sounds like something you'd like to read, let me know. Oh, yeah, and just to clear something up, Lily and James are not living in Godric's Hollow – yet. That comes later. Okay, I'm done...and feel free to leave a nice long review - or a short one, that'll work too. I less than three ( 3 (it's a heart!)) you all!


	23. Thrice Defied

Thrice Defied

In the middle of May, Remus and Elizabeth had set the date of their wedding for September twenty first, thereby giving them plenty of time to plan everything. _It's nice to have something to look forward to, _Lily thought as she drank her coffee. She was on a break and had just sat down in the employee's lounge at St. Mungo's one day in late July. By now, she was a fully licensed Healer and James was an official Auror. They had all been so busy lately that she hardly knew were the past few months had gone. James and Lily's career advancements had only meant one thing – longer working hours.

There had also been a drop in the Order's numbers. In the past few months alone, they had lost Edgar Bones, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, and Caradoc Dearborn. They never even found a trace of Caradoc.

But they had a very hard time recruiting new members. While most of the wizarding population was against Voldemort, very few would openly stand against him for fear of his wrath. Elizabeth had joined only a few weeks ago – much to Remus's protest – but she was the only new person within the ranks.

Lily was beginning to dread the Order's meetings – no progress was being made and the only news they got was tragic. There was one tonight and she was holding on to some small amount of hope that something good could be reported, like a lead on a possible Death Eater or something...How wrong she was.

They never even had the chance to sit down. Nearly as soon as they set foot into headquarters, they were being briefed about a massive attack in northern England. Dumbledore quickly divided them into teams and were on the battle ground in fifteen minutes flat. It looked like bomb had exploded. Trees and what remained of houses were on fire, issuing large clouds of black smoke into the air. And over many of the houses, the Dark Mark flew as a terrifying reminder of just who had done this.

"Okay," said Moody glumly to the gathered Order, "We're just looking for survivors at this point. Potter, Evans, you take this house; Black, Lupin, and Parr, you take the next one,"

"So do you think he's ever gonna call me anything but Evans?" Lily asked as she and James started towards the house that Moody had indicated.

James couldn't help but laugh. "No. To him, you'll always be Evans,"

But they're laughter died away as they came closer the house. Most of the house was destroyed. The edges had black scorch marks and the house seemed to be on the edge of collapsing. But Lily couldn't help but feel as though she had seen this house before...

Wands drawn, they slowly entered the silent house. It was in such a state of destruction that it was impossible to tell if the house belonged to a wizarding or Muggle family. But once inside, a pain-filled cry hit their ears so suddenly that it nearly knocked Lily over. Someone was in a large amount of pain.

"Never a dull moment, is there?" James whispered as they tried to find where the screaming was coming from. But before they could move very far, it stopped just as suddenly as it began. They paused, unsure how to continue. Then they heard movement from the second floor. With a brief nod, James started up the nearly destroyed steps, Lily following close behind. But half way up the stairs, she stopped dead in her tracks. Hanging haphazardly on the wall with a large crack down the center was a picture...but it wasn't just any picture. It was a family portrait. And in the middle of the people was...

"Dorcas..." Lily whispered as she pointed to the picture. That was why the house looked so familiar – this was Dorcas's parents home.

James turned around, a look of shock on his face as his eyes found the picture. "Oh, shit," he mumbled. "We need to keep going. If it is Dorcas's family that's up there, we may need back up,"

Lily nodded, feeling slightly nauseous, before they started up the stairs again. They went as quietly as possible. Once at the top of the stairs, they could tell that the screaming was coming from the first room on the left. Lily had come over countless times during the summer holidays and knew that this was Dorcas's old room.

As they crept closer, Lily heard the voice that had haunted her dreams for over a year.

"I know that the old fool is planning something. Now tell me – what is Dumbledore planning?" Lord Voldemort commanded.

"I – I don't kn – know," sobbed the hunched figure from the floor. Lily's stomach plummeted – it was Dorcas.

"I grow weary of you cries. You should thank me for your merciful death," James quickly signaled for them to go in as he sent his Patronus – a large stag – for help.

Just as they rushed into the room, Voldemort called, _"Avada Kedavra!" _Lily turned her eyes away as the room was filled with bright green light. James tried to disarm him, but Voldemort easily deflected it.

"Do the two of you _never_ learn?" He hissed angrily. "I have been patient with your meddling thus far, but I am going to end this tonight. Look at your friend," he gestured to Dorcas's dead body. "It did her no good."

Lily couldn't tolerate the taunt about her friend – she fired a curse. Voldemort quickly dodged it. In the blink of an eye, they were in full battle mode. James and Lily moved across the room, dodging and sending curses, ducking behind upturned furniture.

And then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. Voldemort was gone. Lily's eyes quickly scanned the room. He had just left. But she couldn't let her guard down – even now, tears were welling in her brilliant green eyes over the loss of her dear friend.

"Where is he?" she asked James. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the wall seemed to explode. The force sent James and Lily tumbling to the floor. Slowly, they stood. The entire wall was gone. As they cautiously stepped closer to the gapping hole, they could see nothing but destruction in the battlefield beyond. Carefully, they leaned over the side, and Lily and James saw a Voldemort, standing at the base of the what was left of the house, waving his wand in a circular motion.

"We gotta get outta here!" James quickly said as he grabbed Lily's arm.

But before they could Disapparate, the house began to fall in around them. Lily glanced upward as a large part of the ceiling fell straight towards her. The last thing she remembered was James's hands on her head, protecting her, before being covered, along with her husband, in the wreckage of the house.

000

"Hey, Moody!"

When Alastor Moody turned to see who was talking to him, he saw Sirius, Elizabeth, and Remus rushing toward him.

"What is it?"

"James just sent a Patronus asking for backup," Sirius said, out of breath.

"Fine, we'll go now,"

But before they could even take a step, the house they all knew James and Lily were in collapsed. They stood – horrified – unable to say anything.

"Lupin, get some Healers and as many other Aurors or Order members as you can find. Black, Parr, we're going to try and find them."

Remus ran off in one way as Sirius, Elizabeth and Moody hurried toward the collapsed house. Once there, they began searching through the rubble. While Elizabeth was moving a large piece from what looked like the ceiling, she glanced at Sirius. He face was so white he looked like a ghost, but he kept looking – and so did she.

But what she found nearly made her sick. As she moved through the wreckage, she saw an unmoving hand. And from the diamond rings that were on it, she knew who it belonged to.

"Hey!" she called as Lily's hand twitched, "Over here!"

Sirius and Moody hurried over. They managed to get more fragments of the house off of her as Lupin, accompanied by Marlene McKinnon and two other Order members, showed up.

"Lily!" said Marlene as she crouched next to her. Lily's eyes fluttered open, tears running down her face. She had a few minor cuts on her face and it looked like she had a broken leg.

"J-James," she murmured, shaking.

"They're looking for him now," said Marlene as she conjured Lily onto a stretcher. "Are you feeling any pain, Lily?"

"My leg, my head...and...and everything else,"

"We found James," someone called.

"Lily, I'll be right back," Marlene said as she went to see James.

Lily tried to sit up, but she was strapped down. Instead, she turned her head, but she couldn't see much; all she could see was James's hand – which wasn't moving.

Then Marlene came back to her side. "I'm going to take you to St. Mungo's, Lily."

"No," she breathed, "What about James?"

"He isn't stable enough to be transferred right now, but he will be." And before Lily could argue any more, everything when black and Lily felt like she was being pushed down on from all sides. Next thing she knew, she was staring at the ceiling of St. Mungo's.

"Simone!" Marlene called as Lily groaned.

"What happened?" asked Simone.

"There was another attack, Lily and James were found inside of a collapsed house. I've got to get back," With that, Marlene Disapparated.

Simone waved her wand at the stretcher Lily was on as it glided towards an empty room.

Once there the stretcher stopped moving, Lily tried to sit up, but Simone pushed her back down.

"Let me go!" Lily screamed. "I have to get to James!"

"You need to sit here," she said.

"No!"

"Lily! There's nothing you can do right now. Your leg is broken, just let me fix it."

She glared at Simone, quite possibly one of her least favorite people of all time – before saying "Alright,"

With a quick wave of her wand, Simone healed Lily's leg.

"Now can I go?"

"You know my answer as well as I do. Now, do you want get into the bed or do you want me to put you there?"

With another glare at Simone, Lily got off the stretcher and into the adjacent bed.

"I'll be right back," said Simone before she felt the room.

Lily sat down on the bed, but sleep was the last thing on her mind.

How was James? Marlene had said that he wasn't stable enough to come here, and that didn't sound good. He had protected her from the falling debris, so he had been hurt worse...much worse. If she hadn't lost control when Voldemort had taunted her about Dorcas...

Dorcas was dead...just the thought of her being gone was almost too much.

Then she heard Simone come back into the room. Lily turned to see Simone, carrying a goblet, walking closer.

"You need to drink this, Lily"

"Have you heard anything about James?"

"No, I haven't...now go head and drink this,"

Lily looked at its contents as she accepted the goblet. "A sleeping potion? Do you actually think that I'm going to take this?"

"Listen, Lily, you need to rest. I promise that I'll wake you if I hear anything about James."

And for the first time in years, Lily and Simone understood each other. Lily nodded briefly before she drank the potion. Slowly, she felt her eyes close as she fell onto the pillow...

A/N: Sorry about the cliffy, but I have to end it here. And about the next chapter...this coming up week is going to be ridiculouslybusy for me, but I will try my best to update soon. Don't forget to review!


	24. One Year

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. It really means a lot!

One Year

"Lily, Lily wake up," Simone said quietly into Lily's ear. Almost immediately, she was sitting straight up and jumped out of the bed.

"What?"

"They just brought in James," she said as they started to walk out of the ward.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A little over an hour and a half,"

"Where is he at?"

"Fourth floor, second room on the left...I can't go in with you – we're swamped tonight...So I guess I'll see you later,"

Lily nodded her thanks before Simone left. Lily's heart seemed to be working overtime as she stepped across the threshold. James was unconscious; he looked peaceful. Sirius and Remus, who were sitting on opposite sides of the bed, looked up as Lily entered. She conjured a chair and sat next to Sirius, who was closest to the door, as she held James's hand.

"They said it's bad, Lils," said Remus solemnly, breaking the silence. "They wouldn't tell us the specifics, but it's not looking good,"

She nodded slightly, though she never took her eyes off of James. How long they stayed like that, Lily never knew. Eventually, she heard someone say her name softly from behind her.

She, Remus and Sirius all looked to see Marlene McKinnon standing in the door. "Lily, can I talk to you?"

She stood and followed Marlene into the hall.

"What's going on?" Lily asked in a tired voice.

"Here's James's chart...I thought you might want to see it," She handed Lily a stack of parchment.

Lily flipped through the first few pages until she found his diagnosis sheet. "Broken left wrist, large laceration from the back of the head to the right temple, three broken ribs, deflated lung," she said quietly. "He's lucky to be alive..."

"He's going to be fine," Marlene said in a comforting voice as she rubbed Lily's arm. "We think he'll be awake by tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon at the latest. James will need to stay for a few days, just for observations, but he'll be okay,"

"Thank you," Lily replied, her eyes full of tears.

"Your very welcome...but now, you have to friends in there that would probably like to know what's going on too,"

Lily nodded as she turned to go back into the room.

"There is one more thing," said Marlene as Lily turned back to face her. "They found Dorcas in–"

"In the same building they found me and James. Voldemort killed her just as we came in,"

"I know how close you are – well, _were_ – with her and...and I'm really sorry, Lil,"

Finally, the tears started to fall. "We're dropping like flies, Marlene...I feel so – so hopeless,"

"I know, Lily. Everyday when I leave for work, I'm so scared that I won't see my husband or daughter again that it takes all of my will just to come here."

"What are we going to do?"

"Hope for a miracle. It's all we _can _do."

000

Just as Marlene had thought, James awoke the next morning, sore – but alive. And even though she knew he would be fine, she still felt so elated to just see him move again. But her joy was short lived. Two days after James was released, Dorcas's parents held her funeral. It had to be one of the saddest days in Lily's memory. While they had lost so many people in the war, Dorcas was the first in Lily and her friends' close group. It felt so weird to think that she would never come over again.

But because Elizabeth was now roommate-less, Remus moved in with her. While Elizabeth's parents were not too pleased, Remus and Elizabeth didn't care. Finally, the day of there wedding came. Lily thought that Elizabeth looked beautiful in her ivory dress. It was a very small wedding, but perfect nevertheless.

000

It was the middle of October. Lily was sitting at the bar in her kitchen eating an apple when she heard someone calling her.

"Lily! Lily!"

"What is it, Alice?" asked Lily as she walked into her living room, surprised to see her friend.

"Is James home yet?"

"No, why?"

"Cause I need to talk to you,"

"Well, sit down," Lily said as they sat down on the couch. "So what's up?"

"Well, first of all, you're never going to guess who's pregnant,"

"You!"

"No...Narcissa Malfoy,"

"WHAT?"

"Yeah. Frank told me yesterday,"

"You mean there's gonna be _another_ Malfoy running around?"

"That's what I thought, too. But anyway – this is why I came here – Frank and I got to talking and..."

"And?" Lily urged her, though she thought she knew what was coming.

"We talked about it and Frank and I are going to try and have a baby,"

Lily let out a shriek of excitement as she flung her arms around Alice. "This is so awesome!" Lily said as she let go of her friend.

"I know!" Alice beamed. "We haven't told anyone else, but I've been bursting to tell someone and you are my best friend."

Lily was about to say something, but the phone began to ring. "Oh, hang on just a second, it's probably just my mum."

She hurried into the kitchen to answer the phone, Alice following her.

"Hello?...Oh, hi Mum...Oh, you know, same old stuff. You sound like awfully excited about something..." But Lily's curious face instantly changed into shock. "What?...W–was it expected?...Oh...How far is she?...Oh...okay...Um, listen, I've got to get going, but I'll talk to you later...I love you too. Bye."

Lily hung up the phone and slowly turned back to Alice.

"You okay, Lil?"

"I don't know," She looked like she was in a daze.

"Is your mum alright?" Alice asked as she led Lily back to the living room.

"Yeah,"

"Well what did she say?" Alice was starting to get annoyed.

They sat down on the couch before Lily said, "Petunia is pregnant,"

"What!"

"Yeah,"

They were quiet for a while before Alice said, "Eewww,"

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "That was my first thought too," before she was quiet again.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Lily glanced at the clock. "It's getting kinda late...you should get home and make that baby you want,"

"Okay," Alice laughed. "I'll see you later,"

"Bye,"

Alice Dissapparated. Lily laid back down on the couch.

Petunia was going to have a baby. Whoa. How could her sister have a baby? Especially with Vernon. Alice had hit the nail on the head. _Eewww._

But was she jealous? _No, of course I'm not jealous. If she wants to have a baby, that's her business. God knows she that it's her life's ambition to be a housewife and a stay at home mom, so go ahead and let her. _

"Lily?"

She snapped out of her thoughts – James was waving his hand in front ofher face.

"Sorry...I was thinking," she sat up and kissed him.

"What's up?" he asked as he sat next to her.

"Well, my sister is pregnant,"

James's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah,"

"So did she just call you to gloat –"

"Oh, no, like she would stoop down to my level and call me...No, my mum called,"

"Oh...Are you alright?"

She shrugged James pulled her closer. "I guess it's just one more reminder how far away my sister and I were. We used to be so close...well, before I got my letter. Do you realize that I'll probably never see my own niece or nephew? I guess it's just a little depressing, that's all,"

James rubbed the small of her back for awhile before saying, "Hey, I've got an idea. Let's go out and eat,"

Lily laughed. "Is that how you fix everything?"

"Well, we could stop by Honeydukes and get some of their best chocolate,"

"Now that sounds like a great idea."

000

Over the next few weeks, all that Lily's mother wanted to talk about was her eldest daughters pregnancy. Phrases like 'oh, she's just over five weeks along now', 'they had an ultrasound done yesterday', and 'I just can't believe that I'm going to have a grandchild' were all she hardly said to Lily. It was getting so bad that half the time Lily stopped answering the phone.

And speaking of pregnancies, Alice was still not pregnant. Nearly every time Lily saw her, she would ask. But as Alice had repeatedly said, "It's still too early to tell," But this would only put Lily's mind at ease from, oh, three hours at the most.

Meanwhile, James and Lily's anniversary was approaching. It seemed amazing that they had been married for a year – and even more amazing that they had both lived to see it.

So, on the evening of the fourth of November, Lily left the St. Mungo's an hour early to go home and...prepare.

The first thing she did was draw herself a hot bath, complete with bubbles, scented oils, candles, and wine. She pinned her hair to the top of her head and eased herself into the hot water. What was it about hot water that was so relaxing, Lily didn't know – or even try to figure out. But there was one thing that could make this better.

And that was when she heard him; James apparated into their bedroom.

"Lily?" he called.

"I'm in here." she replied.

She heard his footsteps getting closer. When he finally came into the bathroom, he had a look of shock and satisfaction on his face.

"Need to unwind from work?" He asked playfully.

She gave him a sly smile. "Maybe...do you need to _unwind _as well?"

"You know, I think I might," he said as he took off his robes and slid into the tub, across from Lily.

_Thank God for large tubs, _he thought as he rubbed Lily's leg.

Unable to stand it much long, Lily rose slightly from the tub, only to straddle her husband. Lily lowered her head and whispered, "Happy Anniversary, love,"


	25. New Life

A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews! I love you all! I probably won't update for a bit - I'm trying to alternate updating my stories and I have a HUGE paper due this Monday. So, anyway, I hope you all enjoy it. And don't forget to reviiew if you have time

New Life

Lily walked down a crowded muggle street in London with her backpack, containing her green Healer's robes, slung over her shoulder. She had had a splitting headache for a few days, and this morning, she had actually been sick. Lily and James had argued for a good half an hour; James didn't want Lily to go to work because she was sick. But Lily, being as stubborn as she was, said that she had to go because St. Mungo's was short of Healers as it was. They argued back and forth until James finally, and uncharacteristically, gave in, realizing that Lily would go to work no matter what.

She turned the corner and saw the Leaky Cauldron. She was on her way to meet James, Alice, Frank, Remus and Elizabeth for drinks. Well, technically, Alice would not be drinking; last week, she found out that she was pregnant.

Last Tuesday, Lily was doing some paperwork on one of her patients when Alice had come into the Healer's lounge. "I need to ask you a huge favor," she said in a rush.

"What?"

"I need a pregnancy test,"

Lily's look of worry changed to excitement in an instant. "Are you serious?"

Alice nodded, grinning. "I'm a week late,"

"Okay, let's get you into a room," Lily lead Alice down the hall to an empty room.

"Alright Alice, go ahead and lie down,"

She did.

"Okay...this is going to take, like, five seconds. All I need to do is a simple spell."

"Alright," she replied in an eager voice.

Lily drew her wand and waved it over Alice's lower abdomen and said, "_Gravidus_,"

A faint gold mist hovered over Alice's abdomen as Lily tried, and failed, to conceal a smile.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Longbottom. You're going to have a baby," Lily beamed.

000

Remembering this particular memory, Lily grinned as she pulled her coat tighter. As she entered the pub, she immediately saw her friends at a table in the back. Once she sat down, Tom, the barman, came by and asked Lily what she wanted to drink.

"Just a glass of water," she replied, before she could even think. All day, a glass of mead had sounded great, but now she had the chance, something told her not too.

Over the next few hours, Lily, Elizabeth, and Alice talked about her pregnancy while James, Remus and Frank talked about who knows what.

000

The next morning started out just like the previous one, with Lily being sick. Just as yesterday, Lily and James argued if she should go to work or stay at home, but this time James won. And even though James had wanted Lily to fall back asleep, but she went down the stairs to get something to drink.

"Lily, you're sick: go upstairs and go back to bed." James tried to persuade Lily for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"First of all, I'm not that sick–"

"Yes, you are," James cut her off. "Go sit down and I'll get you something to drink,"

He walked into the kitchen as Lily sat at the table. She felt a little better now, but her stomach still felt queasy.

James came back a few minutes later with a glass of water.

"Thank you," she said as she sipped from the glass.

"You are so stubborn," James teased.

"Yeah, almost as stubborn as you," she teased right back.

They laughed at each other for a few minutes. Finally, James realized he was going to be late. He kissed Lily goodbye and Apparated to the Ministry. After he left, Lily moved to the couch to take a nap. Maybe James was right...it wouldn't kill her to stay at home for one day...

000

Lily woke up little after noon, felling much better. She actually felt so good that she seriously considered going in to work, but...now that she was had the day off, she just laid back down.

She couldn't help but think of her best friend. _I can't believe Alice is going to have a baby,_ she smiled to herself. She knew how badly Alice wanted to be a mother, and she couldn't have been happier for her best friend.

_So now that's two people that I know are going to have children: my sister and my best friend. Well, at least I'll get to see Alice's baby..._

Ever since she had found out that Petunia was pregnant, Lily's mother had been dropping subtle hints about what Lily would start a family as well. _You'd think she'd be happy with one pregnant daughter. _But Lily had politely told her mother that now probably wasn't the best time. Not that she never wanted to have children – she actually wanted three – but she and James were so active in the Order and he was an Auror...

_And I'm sure that the whole morning sickness thing will be a blast, too._

And then it clicked...she had been throwing up the past few mornings...and, now that she thought about it, she was over a week late...

She immediately bolted up right and started to pace her living room.

_No...I can't be pregnant...We always use the Contraceptive Charm..._

But even as she thought it, she knew it wasn't true. She could easily think of a few times when she and James had gotten a little too caught up in the moment...their anniversary being the most recent...

Finally, she sat down on the couch, breathing unevenly, thinking...Really, there was only one way to put her mind at ease. She laid down on the couch, and just as she had with Alice, waved her wand over her lower abdomen and said, "_Gravidus_." And just as she had thought – and feared? – a gold mist hovered over her abdomen.

She put her head in her hands and stared at the floor.

Her first reaction was panic. There was no way that she could be mature enough to raise a child – nor James, for that matter. How could they make this work?

"I'm pregnant," she said quietly to herself. But as she actually said it aloud, her thoughts shifted gears.

_I'm actually going to have a baby..., _she thought as she couldn't help but grin. But her thoughts were interrupted – someone was spinning in the fireplace.

James stepped out of the fireplace, brushing ash off of his black robes. He found Lily staring blankly at him from her spot on the couch.

"What are you doing home so early?" Lily asked, slightly stunned. She was sincerely hoping she would have had more time to soak in this new information before she would have to tell James.

"It was slow, so I came to see how you were feeling," he said as he sat next to Lily.

"Oh...I'm alright," she said quietly.

"You sure?" James looked concerned. "You're acting a little odd,"

She looked into James's hazel eyes...She couldn't hold it off a moment longer. She took James hands in hers.

"I–I really don't know how to say this, James..." she took a deep breath, "I'm pregnant,"

He stared at her for a moment before his eyes widened. "We – we're – ?"

"Yes...we're going to have a baby,"

He kissed her forehead as he pulled her into a hug. "I'm just glad you're alright,"

Lily looked at him, a shocked expression on her face. "Your not scared?"

"Of course I am, but I know you'll be a great mother," he smiled.

Tears fell from her emerald eyes. "Well, I'm scared as hell,"

"Hey, now," he said in a calming voice as he stroked her back with one hand and wiped her tears with the other. "I know that we didn't exactly plan this, but, given everything we've been through, I'm sure we can handle this, too,"

"I still can't believe we're going to be parents," Lily said in awe.

"So how long have you known?"

"About, oh, five minutes." She laughed.

"Do you know when your due date is?"

"No, but I'm guessing late July or early August. I'm going to write to Marlene so we can get an appointment with a Maternity Healer,"

She found some parchment and quickly wrote a letter to Marlene to schedule her an appointment with one of the Maternity Healers.

She had just sent the letter with her owl as she heard James behind her. He snuck his arm around her, resting his hand upon her abdomen.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you...both of you," he said as he kissed Lily's neck.


	26. Seeing is Believing

Seeing is Believing

"So what's this all about, Prongs?" Sirius asked his best friend. All of his close friends, the Longbottoms, Lupins, and Peter Pettigrew were all at James and Lily's home.

"You mean we just can't have our friends over for dinner?"

"I would believe you, but you have this really dumb smile on your face that tells me otherwise."

"Just sit down, Padfoot,"

A few hours after Lily had told James that she was pregnant, they had decided to only tell the people closest to them until it was extremely obvious that Lily was going to have a baby. Tonight they would tell their close friends, and tomorrow they would tell Lily's mother and the Order.

But half way through dinner, Peter nervously said, "I wanted to tell you guys something," as he glanced between James, Sirius, and Remus.

"Well, go ahead, Wormtail," Sirius said as he took another bite.

"Josefine and I are g-getting married,"

Sirius nearly choked. Everyone was quiet, avoiding Peter's eyes, before Elizabeth spoke up.

"Wow, Peter, that – that's great news."

"Uh, yeah, Wormtail," said James, following Elizabeth's lead, "Congratulations, mate."

Everyone else joined in congratulation Peter, though only half-heartedly. No one like Josefine all that much, but they had never had the heart to tell Peter.

"Alright James, I'm going to ask you one more time," Sirius said as they all sat down in the living room after dinner, "Why did you _really _invite us all over."

"Actually, Lily and I have something to tell you guys...and we wanted you to know first." James said as he held Lily's hand.

"Well, what is it?" asked Elizabeth.

"I'm pregnant," Lily said.

Alice and Elizabeth immediately jumped up and hugged Lily while Sirius, Remus, Peter and Frank shook James's hand.

"Did you just find out today?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah,"

"This is awesome!" said Alice. "I'm probably only a few weeks further along than you, so we'll practically go through our pregnancies at the same time."

"I know! Alice, we've just got the best timing ever." Lily and Alice laughed before they looked at Elizabeth.

"Oh, no," Elizabeth said as she threw her hands in the air. "Remus and I have only been married for a few months...you two let me now when your ready for your second children, and maybe then I'll have good timing too,"

But this only made the girls laugh harder.

After a lot more congratulations and drinks – though not from Lily or Alice – they all went home to their own houses...their own warm beds...

Except one...

As soon as he left James and Lily's house, Peter Pettigrew Apparated to Josefine's apartment.

"What's wrong, Peter?" asked Josefine curiously as she rubbed her left forearm subconsciously.

"Oh, nothing," he said as he sat down next to his girlfriend. He smiled before he continued, "Lily's going to have a baby."

Josefine narrowed her eyes. "So did they have you over just so they could boast about it?" she said coldly.

"Well...n-not exactly...I told them that we're engaged,"

"What did they say?"

"They seem happy,"

"Really?" Josefine's tone was dripped with doubt.

"I guess,"

"You know, I still don't understand why you hand around with them," she huffed. "All they ever do is walk on you."

"We've been friends for a long time," he said quietly.

"That's no excuse,"

Peter hung his head slightly. She put her hand on his thigh and seductively whispered, "Hey...forget about them...I know how to make it all better,"

000

The next day, James and Lily had both called off of work to visit Lily's mother. Just as they had thought, Mrs. Evans was absolutely thrilled about her youngest daughter's pregnancy. But eventually, they had to leave to go to Lily's Healer appointment.

They were sitting in a waiting room on the sixth floor of St. Mungo's – the maternity floor. Lily had only been here once before, when she was first hired at St. Mungo's and Marlene had showed her around. She knew that this was only one of the two waiting rooms on this floor. This one was where the expecting mothers waited before there normal Healer appointments. The other, located on the other side of the floor, was were family waited while the pregnant mother was in labor.

Lily nervously looked around the waiting room. She saw about five other women – most with their husbands – at various stages of their pregnancies. But she couldn't help but notice that she and James were the youngest couple there.

But before Lily could dwell on the thought of _we are way to young to have a baby_, the witch at the desk called Lily's name and she and James walked to the desk.

"I'm Lily Potter," she nervously told the blonde witch at the desk

"You and your husband can go down the hall to room eight, it'll be the fourth door on your left. Healer Thomas will be with you shortly."

"Thanks,"

Lily and James easily found the room that the witch at the desk had said. Lily sat on the patient table as James anxiously stood beside her. She barely had time to register how weird it felt to be on the other side of an examination when there was a knock on the door.

A woman with long, curly, dark brown hair wearing the signature green Healer's robes carrying a clipboard entered the room.

"Hello, I'm Healer Thomas, and you must be Mrs. Potter," she said as she shook Lily's hand.

"Please, call me Lily. And this is my husband, James,"

"Hello, James,"

"Hi,"

"You know, Lily, you look awfully familiar...do you work here?"

"Yes, I'm a Healer downstairs,"

"That's right. I remember Marlene speaking very highly of you. Now, let's get down to why you're here." Healer Thomas conjured a stool and sat next to Lily. "How have you been feeling?"

"Aside from the morning sickness, I feel alright,"

"Good," the Healer scribbled a note on her clipboard. "I can give you a potion to stop that,"

Lily smiled gratefully.

"Well then, let's go ahead and have a look at your baby," Healer Thomas went to the far corner of the room and grabbed a screen and set it up so that it faced Lily and James.

"Alright, Lily, I'm going to need you to lie down,"

She did as she was told, and, once she was lying down, grabbed James's hand. He leaned closer to her and whispered, "Everything's going to be fine," before he kissed her forehead.

The Healer muttered a spell with her wand directed at Lily's abdomen, then flicked her wand at the screen. Almost instantly, a black and white picture appeared on the screen. And, right in the middle of the screen was this little round thing. Without being told, both Lily and James knew what they were looking at. _That is my baby, _she thought.

At that moment, Lily felt something catch in her chest. It finally hit her how real this was. She had known for only a little over twenty four hours that she was going to have a baby, but actually _seeing _her child, _seeing _the life that was growing inside her, was something completely different. Tears slowly trickled down her face as she looked at James, who was staring at the screen with a look of awe written on his handsome features.

Sensing he was being watched, he glanced down at Lily. He wiped the tears off of her cheeks and squeezed her hand.

"Everything looks fine," Healer Thomas said after a moment as she made more notes on her clipboard, "Your nearly five weeks along, so that will put your due date at...August fourth...Now, before you leave, you need to stop at the front desk to make another appointment for early to mid January." She gave the screen a quick tap and a picture appeared in her hand. "And here is the first picture of your baby..." She gave it to Lily. "Oh, and here is the potion to get rid of the morning sickness," Healer Thomas handed Lily a dark blue bottle. "It'll keep refilling until your next appointment, but you will probably still need it after that. Do you either of you have any questions?"

"I don't think so," Lily replied she sat up and looked at James, who shook his head.

"Great, then I'll see you next month,"

A/N: I'm really, really sorry it took so long to update. I had major writer's block on this chapter for some reason. I'm hoping to update sometime before the end of the month, early May at the very latest. And don't forget to review! (Please)


	27. Developments

Developments

"I'm getting huge," Lily said in exasperation as she ran her hand over her ever growing belly. James had been hearing this everyday for the past few months. It was now late May, and the baby seemed to be getting bigger everyday – which meant that Lily was getting bigger everyday. But James was not as stupid as to say something like that to his extremely hormonal wife – he would like to live to see his child born.

"You are not," he replied, not looking her in the eye as he began eating breakfast.

"Yes, I am," she insisted as she sat down next to James and started eating as well. Just as she was about to have her

fifth piece of bacon, she took a quick gasp of breath and put a protective hand over her swollen stomach.

"What's wrong?" James asked in a slightly panicking voice. Lily noticed that fear was etched in his hazel eyes.

"What's the matter?"

Lily couldn't help but give a small laugh. "The baby just kicked,"

His expression immediately changed from fear to happiness. "Really?"

"Yeah," she took James's hand and placed it on her belly. They were silent as they watched Lily's stomach, hoping that the baby would kick again. And it did.

"Did you feel that?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Yeah!"

"This is so exciting!" she said as she threw her arms around James.

"That's the first time he's kicked, right?"

"Yes," But then Lily put her hands on her hips and asked him, "And what makes you think it's a 'he'?"

"I just know," he replied quietly as he levitated their plates into the kitchen.

"So are you going to be crushed if we have a girl?" Lily's question sounded innocent enough, but James new better – one of her mood swings was just about to set in.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist so his hands rested on her enlarged belly. He bent his head and whispered, "You know that I don't care if we have a boy or a girl – as long as it's healthy."

Surprisingly, James's comment satisfied Lily. She turned around and lightly kissed his lips.

"You know, I've been thinking, I've got a Healer's appointment this evening...What if we find out the sex of the baby?"

"I thought you wanted it to be a surprise,"

"Well, I did, but if we find out what we're going to have, we can start getting the nursery ready and I know my mum has been bugging me about going shopping for the baby already...and we can start picking out names,"

He considered it for a moment before he said, "Alright, then let's find out,"

000

Sirius Black was sitting at his desk in the Auror department. Truth be told, he was hiding out from Moody because he had not finished a report that was due earlier this morning. Well, at least he was trying to finish it.

The nearly complete report was sitting on the desk. Sirius glanced around his cubicle, looking for inspiration when his eyes fell on a picture of him, James, Lily, and James's parents at James and Lily's wedding reception. Sadly, he remembered how, only a few months later, they had all been attacked by Death Eaters – and how Daniel and Marie Potter had not survived.

Yet something else came to his mind – something he had nearly forgotten.

He remembered the night that James's parents had died. Lily and James had everyone over to tell them that a little girl that Lily was taking care of at the hospital – Lindsay...something – was going to be living with them. Everyone had been thrilled, except Josefine. She had suddenly left to go to meet her Mum – at least that's what she said.

Sirius had never liked Josefine. Lily had always said it was because she had been in Slytherin when they were in school – but he thought it was more than that...she just wasn't ...trustworthy. And then he recalled something else. At Alice and Frank's wedding, Josefine had run off unexpectedly as well. But what had she done right before that?...Sirius was straining his brain to recall – he had been drinking quite a bit that night...

And then he remembered...Josefine had clutched her left forearm.

Suddenly, he jumped up from his desk and nearly ran into Moody's office.

"What's this about, Black?" Moody asked gruffly as Sirius walked into the office.

"I think I've got a new lead on a possible Death Eater."

"Who?" Moody asked as he closed the door with a wave of his wand.

"Josefine Anderson,"

"That name sounds familiar..."

"That's because she's engaged to Peter Pettigrew."

Moody sighed. "I can't give you a group of Aurors to run a proper mission...but say something to Potter and maybe a few other Order members and see what you can come up with. If you get enough information, then we'll start a formal investigation. I'll make a note to say something to Dumbledore, as well."

Sirius nodded and left the office.

It didn't take him long to find James, he was lounging back in his chair, tilting it back on two legs. As he came closer, Sirius noticed that his best friend was dictating a report to a quill that was speeding across his desk. But when James saw Sirius, he waved his wand toward the quill, which fell limp on the desk, and turned to his friend.

"What's up?" James asked.

"You know how we don't like Josefine?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, I've been thinking, what if she's a Death Eater?"

"What?"

"Just think about it...she could be with Peter just to get information about the Order, and Pete's not exactly the brightest star in the sky, so he's probably telling her a ton of stuff."

"So what do you wanna about it?"

"We can find out where Josefine lives, set up some kind of surveillance on her for a while, until we find something."

"Alright, Lily has another Healers appointment pretty soon, but we can start tonight,"

"Yeah, sounds good. Is it just a routine checkup?"

"Yeah, but we're going to find out the sex of the baby, so I really want to be at this one."

"I thought you guys were going to wait,"

"Yeah, so did I, but this morning, Lily said she wanted to know, so we're going to find out today."

"Well, good luck,"

"Thanks," James laughed as he looked at his watch. "Damn, I need to go now...I see you later,"

"See ya,"

000

A/N: Alright, so I was going to combine this chapter with the next, but I thought it would be too long...Anyway, hope you liked it and please review if you've got time.


	28. The Breakup

The Breakup

"Everything seems to be going great, Lily," Healer Thomas said as she scanned Lily's belly with her wand so she could get a better view of the baby. "Do either of you have any questions?"

"Actually," Lily said as she squeezed James's hand, "We wanted to find out the sex of the baby."

"Alright," the Healer replied. She moved her wand slightly to get a better view of the baby. "It's a boy," she smiled.

James and Lily's faces lit up as they looked at the image of the baby...from this angle, it was _definitely_ a boy. James was nearly laughing as he kissed Lily's temple.

"You can get the picture from the front desk...and I'll see you at the next appointment,"

"Thank you, Healer Thomas," Lily said.

"No problem," she said as she left the room.

As they left the room shortly after, Lily linked her arm with James's. "Wow," she said, still with a wide smile on her face, "We're gonna have a little boy!"

"I know," he beamed back. He couldn't even begin to convey how elated her was. They were going to have a _son_.

000

Later that night, Sirius was on his way over to James and Lily's. He and James were going on a stake-out for both the Order and the Ministry.

"How is my favorite prego?" Sirius asked Lily as he gave her a hug.

"I'm okay," she laughed as James came down the stairs. "We had another Healer's appointment today,"

"And what are you having?"

Lily looked at James before he smiled, "We're gonna have a boy,"

"I knew it!" Sirius exclaimed as James laughed and Lily rolled her eyes.

"So do you guys honestly think you're going to find something on Josefine?" Lily asked seriously.

"We're gonna try," said Sirius.

"Just be careful, okay?"

"Aren't we always?" James replied as he kissed her.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No," James and Sirius smirked before they Disapparated.

000

In a remote wooded area, a large black dog and a magnificent stag watched a small cottage. They had been there for three hours when the dog transformed back into a human.

"What do you say we call it a night?" Sirius asked as Prongs transformed into James.

"How about we give it another fifteen minutes?"

Sirius nodded as they both transfigured into their animal forms.

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sounds of people Apparating. Padfoot and Prongs were peaked with interest. There were about ten...no, fifteen, people that had just shown up...all wearing black masks and hooded cloaks. They saw Josefine open the door and willingly let them into her house. But once they were inside, Padfoot and Prongs couldn't see anything.

000

"This is unbelievable," Lily said breathlessly once James and Sirius had filled her in on what they had seen that night.

"No kidding," James murmured.

"I can't believe you two were right about her. What if Peter has told her stuff about the Order?" Lily said, sounding slightly hysterical by now. "How are you going to tell Peter?"

"I don't know," said James in a wary voice. "Maybe we should confront Josefine first,"

"Yeah, then she'll sick her Death Eater friends on you," said Lily as she rubbed her eyes.

"What if we tell Remus first," said Sirius. "That way he can be there when we tell Peter – I mean, he's a lot more reasonable than us,"

"Yeah, that sounds good...if Peter want us to be there when he confronts her, then we will,"

000

The next day, Saturday, James and Sirius went over to Remus and Elizabeth's apartment to tell them what they had seen the night before.Theywere just as shocked as Lily had been. After talking it over with Remus, the three guys agreed to invite Peter over and tell him everything and possibly later confront Josefine while Lily and Elizabeth went shopping – James did not want his pregnant wife anywhere near a known Death Eater.

"Come on in Peter," said Remus as he opened the door. He led Peter into the living room where James and Sirius were nervously waiting.

"Hey guys," said Peter, "What's up?"

James glanced at Remus and Sirius before saying, "You better sit down,"

Looking absolutely terrified, Peter sat down, Remus following suit.

"Wormtail, we're not sure how to tell you this, but..." James looked at Sirius for help.

"Josefine's a Death Eater," Sirius said bluntly.

Peter gave a nervous laugh. "V-very funny guys. What's _really _going on?"

James and Sirius explained what they had seen the previous night. When they had finished telling their story, Peter sat, white-faced, staring at the floor.

"You okay Peter?" asked Remus. He shook his head.

"If you want us to go with you to confront her," said James kindly, "we will,"

"Have you reported her yet?" asked Peter in a dead voice.

Sirius gave James a worried look. "Not yet...we thought you should know first."

Peter looked at his friends, his eyes full of tears. "No," he said quietly, "I should do it on my own." Slowly, he stood up; James, Sirius, and Remus did as well.

"Do you think that's really a good idea?" asked Remus.

"What does it matter?" Peter replied sadly before he Disapparated.

Late that night, James, Sirius, and Remus received identical notes from Peter that each said, "We broke up,"

A/N: Okay, so what did you think? I'm not sure if I like this chapter or not...but the next one will be called The Prophecy. Our Prom is Saturday and with post prom, it'll take a few days to recover, so it should be posted in a few weeks.


	29. The Prophecy

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I can't believe I'm up to 448! I 3 you all! But anywho, here's chapter 29.

The Prophecy

"What about Hayden?"

"No. Michael?"

"No," replied Lily tonelessly as she rubbed her large belly. It seemed like she and James had been lying on their couch for hours trying to think of baby names. "Mark?"

James thought about it before his shook his head and said, "No."

Lily grabbed a book full of names and opened it at random, scanning for a name she liked, "Owen?"

"No,"

Frustrated, Lily threw the book at James, but, thanks to years of Quidditch training, caught it. Smiling slightly, he too scanned the book. "What about William?"

"I like William,"

"Finally, we've got something!" he exclaimed.

Lily laughed as she took the book back and opened it to the 'H' section. "What about Harry?"

"Harry Potter," James said, "It does have a certain ring to it,"

"And you like it more than William?"

"Definitely. But what about a middle name?"

"Well," Lily said slowly, "I was thinking James...Harry James Potter,"

"Sounds good," James smiled as he leaned to kiss her.

"James?" someone called from their fireplace. They both turned to see Sirius's head floating in the fire.

"What's up?" James responded.

"There's a Death Eater attack, and Moody's calling all hands on deck,"

James nodded and walked over to the fireplace. "I'll see you in a minute,"

Sirius's head nodded before it vanished.

"I thought you had the day off," Lily said.

"So did I," James said bitterly.

After a few attempts to get off of the couch – her belly was very large by now – Lily wrapped her arms around her husband.

"Be careful," she whispered.

"I promise," he said as he kissed her. "I love you,"

"I love you, too," Lily slowly stepped away before James threw a hand full of Floo Powder into the fireplace and vanished in its flames.

Lily stared into the now empty fireplace and sighed. She knew James had to go, but that did not make it any easier. She made her way into the kitchen and opened the freezer. _Cookie dough or rocky road?_, that was the question of the day. She grabbed the cookie dough ice cream when she heard a loud crack that could only mean that someone had just Apparated into her home.

"Lily?" a familiar voice called.

"I'm in the kitchen, Alice."

Alice walked – well, more like waddled – into the kitchen and said, "So I take it James got called in as well?"

Lily nodded glumly. "Frank too?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, I was going to spend the rest of the evening pigging out on ice cream," Lily gestured to her tub of ice cream, "You wanna join me?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Alice smiled. She conjured to spoons, gave one to Lily, and they both sat down at the table. "So how are you doing with the nursery?"

"We've got most of it done...all we need is a crib. My mum has been saying from the beginning that she wants to buy the crib, so we're going to go shopping soon, but she's been busy lately." Alice could hear the bitterness in Lily's voice as she ended.

"With?" Alice prompted her friend.

Lily sighed heavily and said, "Petunia had her baby last week,"

"I'm not sure if I want to know, but what did she have?"

"A boy, nine pounds, eight ounces."

"Ouch,"

Lily laughed as she took another bite of ice cream. "But the best part is what my darling sister and genius husband named their son,"

"Oh, this'll be good,"

Lily smiled at her best friend, "Dudley. Dudley Dursley."

They locked eyes for a moment before they both started laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.

"So I guess that means Luke or Leila Longbottom and Preston Potter are out of the question." But Alice's comment only made the expecting mothers laugh even harder.

Suddenly, Frank, James, and Sirius appeared in the kitchen.

"Alight!" Sirius exclaimed as he conjured a spoon and dug into Lily's stash of ice cream.

James laughed and said, "Are you three gonna go to the Order meeting or sit here and eat all night?"

"Do you want to know what I'm _going_ to do or what I _want _to do?" Lily replied as she took another bite of ice cream. "So is that why you guys are home so soon? Moody wanted you to go to the meeting?"

"Yeah," said Frank.

"Aren't we going to the Hog's Head?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, Dumbledore has an interview or something right after the meeting." said Lily.

000

After the meeting, Dumbledore had the Order members either Disapparate or Floo out from the pub from the basement, where the meeting took place. He had decided that it would be safer this way, rather than they leave through the bar; after all, his brothers inn didn't always attract the most _upstanding _patrons.

Once all of the Order members had left, he followed his brother, Aberforth, into the bar.

"Headed back to the school, Albus?"

"No, I must go to one of your rooms to conduct an interview for the Divination post. What room is Sibyll Trelawney staying in?"

"Room twelve. I thought you were going to get rid of the subject all together?"

"I still may," Albus replied. He nodded at his brother and went upstairs.

From across the crowded bar, a man in his early twenties with a long, greasy curtain of hair, saw them leave and, moments later, followed him...

000

A mere twenty minutes into the interview, Albus Dumbledore was more sure than ever that it would be of no harm to anyone to eliminate the subject of Divination all together. Sibyll Trelawney had no apparent skill in the field.

"Very well, Sibyll, very well," he said in a wary voice. "I will sent you an owl in a few..." but he never finished his sentence. Sibyll looked as though she were about to faint; her face paled, her eyes were unfocused and her mouth was sagging. Suddenly, her eyes began to roll. Dumbledore had reached for his wand when she began to speak in a harsh voice, very unlike her own.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_

Dumbledore was so engrossed by what Trelawney was saying, that it was only when she stopped when he heard a commotion coming from outside the door. Trelawney was blinking her eyes – she seemed completely unaware of what she had just said. But before either one of them could speak, the door opened to reveal his brother, holding the upper arm of Severus Snape.

"I found him," Aberforth said in a dangerous voice, "listening outside," while Snape was saying something about coming up the wrong staircase as he tried to free himself from Aberforth's grip. Finally, he did, and Snape Disapparated on the spot.

Albus raised a hand at his brother and said, "It is alright,"

Aberforth shrugged and closed the door. Albus turned back to Trelawney, who looked stunned at the sudden interruption. "Well, Ms. Trelawney, I would like to be the first to congratulate you on being hired as the new Divination professor. You may move into the castle as soon as you like."

000

Later that night, Albus Dumbledore paced his office, mentally reliving the evening's events. A prophecy...he had heard a prophecy that could forever change the wizarding world. _Born as the seventh month dies_...any number of boys could be born at the end of July..._born to those who have thrice defied him_...he only knew of two sets of expecting parents that had escaped Voldemort three times – Frank and Alice Longbottom and James and Lily Potter. He knew that Alice was due towards the end of July, but they did not know the sex of their child. James and Lily on the other hand, were expecting a boy, but Lily was not due until early August. But only time would tell if Lily would go into labor early or if Frank and Alice had a boy...for their sakes, he hoped not.

And then there was the matter of Severus. He had had a suspicion that Severus was a Death Eater for sometime, but now that he had been caught eavesdropping, Dumbledore knew it must be true. Severus would surely tell Voldemort what he had over heard. This was what disturbed Dumbledore the most – the prophecy would no meaning if Voldemort would not act upon it, but now that Severus would tell him, Voldemort was sure to act.

But for now, all he could do was wait...wait for a boy to be _born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..._


	30. Born As The Seventh Month Dies

A/N: Yea to me, I finally finished this chapter! I hope you like it, so please review and let me know what you think!

Born As The Seventh Month Dies

On the morning of July thirty first, Lily woke up extremely early to the sound of a sharp tapping on her and James's bedroom window. She didn't sleep much that night because yesterday afternoon, Alice had sent her and owl saying that she had just gone into labor. She hurried out of bed – well, as fast as her swollen belly would let her – and immediately opened the window to let the owl in. It was a short note that read.

_It's a boy! Neville Longbottom was born at nine twenty four p.m. on July 30th . _

Lily beamed as she set the note on her bedside table before she started to get ready. In a few hours, Lily had her last Healer's appointment before her due date. She had been on maternity leave for a little over a two weeks, and was about to go crazy. She was not one to be locked up in her house for very long, and her raging hormones did not make her mood any better.

She and James had a quick breakfast and left for St. Mungo's early. Since Lily couldn't go see Alice last night, she and James were just going to go early this morning before her appointment.

Once Lily and James were on the maternity floor of St. Mungo's, Lily asked the witch at the desk, "What room is Alice Longbottom in?"

"All the way down the hall, past the second waiting room and she's the third door on the left," the witch replied warmly. Lily thanked her and she and James made their way down the hall. When they made it to the second waiting room, they saw a beaming Frank sitting there with his mother and what appeared to be various other family members.

"What are you two doing here?" Frank asked when he saw Lily and James.

"Lily wanted to come by to check on Alice," said James. "And congratulations, mate," he added as he shook Frank's hand.

"Thanks a lot," Frank said as he hugged Lily.

"Well, I'm going to see the new mummy," Lily smiled as she went to see Alice, leaving James with Frank.

She walked down the hall, found the room that Alice was in, and stuck her head in the room. Her best friend was sitting up in her bed, looking out the window with a faint smile on her face.

"Hey, honey," Lily said. Alice turned to her friend, her smile steading steadily growing.

"Come on in, Lils," Alice said.

Lily sat on the edge of the bed and gave her friend a large hug. "Congratulations, Alice,"

"Thanks," Alice replied as her eyes filled with tears.

"So how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright, all things considering,"

"And the baby?"

"Just fine...you should see him Lil, he's so beautiful,"

There was a knock on the door and a nurse came in hold a bundle of blankets. "Oh, hello, I didn't realize you had a visitor,"

"It's alright," Alice replied as her face lit up.

The nurse handed Alice the baby and, more from instinct than anything else, she held him close to her chest. "Hey there, Neville," she cooed. Neville's face, which was still a little pink, was round, much like Alice's, but he had Frank's nose.

"You're right Alice, he's beautiful,"

"Thanks," Alice replied, though she never took her eye off her son.

"Well, I need to get going...I've got my last appoint in about ten minutes, but I'll come back after, okay?"

"Okay," Alice gave Lily a one armed hug, said there good byes, and Lily left.

000

"Alright Lily," said Healer Thomas, "there's just one more thing we need to do,"

Lily nodded, laid back on the table, and put her feet in the metal stirrups.

"I hate this," Lily mumbled as James held her hand.

"All finished," the Healer said as Lily sat up. "Have you had any contractions?"

Lily was about to reply 'no' when a sudden pain seemed to be crushing her lower abdomen. She tried to breath, but couldn't – instead, she squeezed James's hand as hard as she could.

Finally, it stopped. "That was my first," she said.

"Well, you're three centimeters dilated, so I'd like to keep you here. I don't expect you to deliver anytime soon, but we need to you to stay,"

Lily could feel her heart beating faster. "Okay,"

000

Eleven o'clock p.m. Twelve hours later. Twelve long, painful, nerve racking hours later, and still no baby. Lily was so exhausted that if she wasn't about to give birth at any time, she probably would have passed out. Her mother, Sirius, Remus, and Elizabeth were moving between her room, the waiting room, and the tea room.

Right now, everyone was in the waiting room while Healer Thomas was examining Lily.

"It's time, Lily," said Healer Thomas, "I'll tell your family and friends what's happening and then we'll things going."

Lily nodded as her Healer left. She felt James put his arm around her shoulder.

"James?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"I know I've been a real pain these past few months, but I just want to tell you something...I'm glad that your hear with me...I can't imagine going through this with anyone else,"

He kissed her temple. "Same here, Lils,"

"Okay, Lily," said Healer Thomas, who had returned with a two nurses. "When your next contraction comes, I need you to push,"

"Yeah," Lily tried to regulate her breathing, preparing for what was coming. But her breath caught when the contraction hit.

"Push, Lily," Healer Thomas said.

Lily thought she was going to die – that's how much it hurt. The Cruciatus Curse had nothing on child birth. She let out a piercing scream as tears fell from her eyes. What seemed like hours later, Healer Thomas said, "Alright Lil, the head is out. One more push should do it."

Lily nodded and braced herself once again. With what little energy she had left, she pushed until she thought she was going to pass out.

"It's a boy!" said the Healer from somewhere between her legs. As Lily slumped against the bed, she could hear her baby – her son – crying, which only made her cry more. "Time of birth," Healer Thomas continued, "Eleven forty eight p.m., thirty first of July."

Moments later, the Healer gave the baby, wrapped in a pale blue blanket, to Lily. She lovingly cradled her son, taking him in. He was so small, a pink face, and a small patch of black hair. Even now, she knew that her son would look just like his father – who had on hand on the baby and tears in his eyes.

All of the pain she had felt for the last twelve hours had disappeared. How could you love someone so much that you've only known for a minute? Just then, the baby stopped crying and looked up at his parents with a pair of astonishing emerald eyes.

"He has his mother's eyes," James said.

"But he looks like you," she smiled as she kissed her husband. "Here," Lily handed their son to James. He carefully held the infant, looking slightly nervous at holding someone so small.

"Mr. Potter, we need to take him for just a few minutes," said one of the nurses.

"Why?" he asked protectively.

"We just need to give him a physical, make sure he's healthy."

James nodded and handed the nurse his son.

000

Sirius glanced around the waiting room for what felt like the thousandth time. Mrs. Evans was nervously staring at the floor, Remus was looking though the _Daily Prophet_, and Elizabeth had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He looked at his watch – it was ten past twelve.

He heard someone's footsteps and looked up. A pretty, blonde nurse had just entered the waiting room. "Are you here with the Potters?" she asked the group.

Elizabeth woke up and everyone sat a little straighter.

"Yes," said Mrs. Evans.

"Follow me, please,"

They all stood up and followed the nurse down the hall. The nurse knocked on the door before she led them in. They saw Lily sitting up in her bed, and James sitting on the edge, holding a bundle of blankets.

They looked up, beaming, when the heard them knocking. Mrs. Evans rushed her daughter, holding Lily's face in her hands and asking if she was alright.

"Yes, Mum, I'm fine, just fine," Lily replied, sounding exhausted.

They all gave Lily and James their congratulation as they passed the baby around.

"So are you sticking with Harry?" Remus asked Sirius passed the newborn to him.

"Yeah...Harry James Potter," Lily answered.

By the time Harry finally got back to his mother, which was an hour later, Healer Thomas came in. "I hate to intrude, but Lily really does need to get some rest. You are all more than welcome to come back first thing tomorrow morning."

They all bid James and Lily good night, promising that they would return first thing in the morning.


	31. Choices

A/N: I know that this chapter is really short, but the next one will be longer, I promise! Anywho, I hope you like it...and please review!

Choices

As Peter awoke on the morning of August first, a wave of guilt spread over him. He knew he should have gone to St. Mungo's last night, but he couldn't handle it. He couldn't bare to see the excitement on James and Lily's faces when their son was born. Ever since he had broken up with Josefine, he had found it nearly unbearable to even be around the happy couple.

But he was going to go to St. Mungo's this morning. Even though he was jealous of James, he was still his friend. Peter took a quick shower, ate breakfast, and made his way to St. Mungo's. But first he decided to stop by Diagon Alley to buy some flowers for Lily. He was looked around the flower store when a familiar voice said, "Hello, Peter,"

He turned around to see Josefine nervously looking at him. "Hi," he said.

It was a very awkward moment.

"So how have you been?" she asked.

"Good," he said before he grabbed a random bouquet of flowers and when to pay for them.

As he hurried out of the store, Josefine rushed after him. "Peter, wait!"

"What do you want?"

"I – I just want to talk to you," she said as she caught her breath, "Do you want to get a cup of coffee?" Peter knew he shouldn't...but a few minutes couldn't possibly do any harm.

"Okay,"

Once they had sat down at a café, Josefine made another attempt at conversation. "So...how's Lily doing? With the pregnancy, I mean?"

"Good...she went into labor last night,"

"So the flowers are for her?"

"Yeah...I'm on my way to see them now."

"Oh," There was another awkward silence before Josefine said, "Look Peter, I know why you broke up with me – but – I miss you," she put her hand over his. "You can't deny that we had something – hell, we were engaged! I don't see why we can't be together,"

"Josefine, you're a – "

"I know, but why should that stop us? And besides" she leaned closer and dropped her voice so low that only Peter could hear her, "your side is losing."

Peter's eyes widened. "Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. The Dark Lord is getting stronger by the day. I know that your friends have escaped him three times before, but they nearly died. What is there to gain by fighting Him?"

Josefine sat straighter and sipped her coffee, a glint of triumph in her eyes – she knew she had gotten to him. "So," she continued in her usual voice, "Did Lily have a boy last night?"

Peter just stared at her before he said, "Y–Yeah...S–Sirius sent me an owl last n–night,"

Josefine smiled into her cup. When she finished, she leaned forward again. "Whenever you're ready," she whispered as she ran her hand down his cheek, "You know where to find me," She lightly kissed his lips before she left.

000

Peter nervously entered Lily's room at St. Mungo's. He was still shaken from his encounter with Josefine, and his mind was buzzing. Could Josefine be right? He knew they were losing the war, but was it worth joining You-Know-Who? Could he offer protection that not even Dumbledore can?

Only James and Lily were there; Lily sitting in bed, James holding a bundle of blankets. There were numerous bouquets of flowers on a spare table – most of them were lilies. Peter put his flowers on the table.

"Hi, guys," he said. James and Lily looked up and smiled at Peter.

"Hi, Peter," James and Lily smiled.

"So..." said Peter as he stood next to James. "This is Harry, eh?"

"Yeah," said James. There was knocking on the door before Sirius and Remus came in. They said hello to Peter before they all gave their undivided attention to little Harry.

"Oh, Elizabeth wanted to give this to you," said Remus as he gave Lily a box covered in blue wrapping paper.

"Thanks Remus," said Lily. She opened it and held a tiny, pale green sleeper. "Aww, its adorable!"

How long Peter stood there, he wasn't sure, but he did realize something. He didn't belong here. He guessed he had always known that, but the birth of baby Harry had also brought the death of the Marauders. Look at them, all concerned about a mere child. He knew that from here on out, while their friendship would always exist, it would be nothing like it used to be. Peter knew what he had to do.

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and leave," Peter said.

"Okay," said James, "Thanks for coming,"

Peter nodded and left. Once outside of the room, he Disapparated to Josefine's house.

"Well, I need to get going too," Remus said. "Are you going home today, Lil?"

"This afternoon, yeah," Lily answered.

"Okay...I'll see you guys later,"

"Bye," James, Lily and Sirius.

"Hey, Sirius...Lily and I wanted to ask you something." said James.

"Go for it," said Sirius as he took Harry from James.

"Well, seeing as you are one of our closest friends," Lily said, "We wanted to ask you if you would be Harry's godfather,"

Sirius's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," said James. "You've been by best friend since we were eleven. Lily and I trust you our lives, and we trust you with our son's as well,"

"I would be honored," Sirius replied in an unusually serious tone.

000

Albus Dumbledore knocked on Minerva McGonagall's office door. After she granted him access, he went into her office. She looked up from her desk and said, "Albus – "

But he held up a hand to silence her. "I just need to check something very quickly," He walked over to a shelf where a large, old book that had a quill magically perched over it. Since Hogwarts was first established, this book had recorded every baby that was born with magical abilities.

Dumbledore looked at the last two entrances in the book.

_Neville Longbottom – July 30, 1980_

_Harry James Potter – July 31, 1980_

Dumbledore sighed. Of course, it couldn't have been a clear cut choice. At least this would buy them some time. Now Voldemort would have a choice to make...but which child would he choose?


	32. The Terrifying Truth

A/N: Okay, so I was planning the last few chapters, and I'm thinking this story is only going to go to about 40 chapters, give or take a few...it's weird that I'm almost finished...anywho, on with chapter 32!

The Terrifying Truth

The next eight weeks dragged on. Having to feed their infant son every few hours and major lack of sleep were taking a serious toll on James and Lily. James had taken a week off after Harry was born so he and Lily could adjust to their new family. And after changing dirty diapers for a week, James was almost relieved to go back to being an Auror – almost.

Meanwhile, Lily was debating whether or not to return back to St. Mungo's at all. Sometimes she missed her job, missed being able to heal another person. But then she would hold her child, and they would just look into each other's brilliant green eyes until Harry fell asleep; at those times, there was no where else she would rather be. Marlene had said that Lily could take as much time as she needed to decide, but even after nearly eight weeks, she still had not made a final decision.

James, Lily, and Harry were sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. Well, actually, Harry was snuggled close to his mother, quietly enjoying a bottle she was giving him as James ate.

James looked at his watch before he stood up. "I need to go. You want me to get rid of this?" he said, gesturing to his unfinished breakfast.

"No, I'll probably eat it later,"

"Isn't your Mum coming over today?"

"Yeah, she should be here soon,"

"Okay, I'll see you later...love you," He leaned in and kissed Lily.

"I love you, too," she smiled.

James bent over and kissed his son on his forehead. "I'll see you guys later,"

"Alright, be careful."

James gave her a wink before he Disapparated.

After she finished feeding Harry, Lily took her son into the living room to, hopefully, rock him to sleep. But just as Harry dozed off, there was a knocking at the door. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she stood to answer the door.

"Hello, Lily," said Sarah Evans brightly as she kissed her daughter's cheek. "And here's my grandson!" she beamed as she gently took Harry into her arms. He stirred slightly and looked up at his grandmother.

"My, my, you look more and more like your father everyday, don't you?" Sarah said playfully as they walked to the living room. Both Lily and Harry smiled as Lily flopped down on the couch while Sarah and Harry sat in the rocker. "But you have your mother's beautiful green eyes. How I wish Harold could have seen you." Sarah looked up at her daughter. "He would have been so proud of you, Lily, seeing you and James together with young Harry. But you know what's funny? I can hardly even recall that – that night."

A wave of guilt swept over Lily. Her father had been killed by Death Eaters, while her mother, sister, and her sister's husband had been tortured. But because they were Muggles, the Ministry had modified their memories to make them believe that Harold Evans had died in a car crash. Lily smiled sadly but said nothing.

"Lily, dear, you look exhausted...why don't you lay down?"

"Mum, I didn't invite you over just so you could watch Harry while I sleep."

"Darling, you need your sleep, you look like your going to fall over. I remember what it was like when you and Petunia were young, and it was hell. Just lay down on the couch for a bit and I'll take care of Harry.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked as her mother began to take Harry upstairs.

"I'm positive."

"Okay...there's a bottle in the fridge...and if he gets fussy, he really like his stuffed deer, it should be on the changing table..."

"We'll be fine, won't we Harry?" And without another word, Lily watched her mother take her son.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but she closed her mouth. She was being silly, her mother was perfectly capable of taking care of her son.

As she sat down on the couch, it hit Lily...how could she go back to work and leave her son with some stranger when she could barely let her own mother do it?

She laid down on the couch, falling into a much needed – and deserved – sleep.

000

Lily could feel the edge of the couch sink as someone sat next to her. That same person ran their hand down her cheek...she knew that touch...

She opened her eyes to see James hovering over her, holding Harry, who was looking up at his dad. She smiled. "Hey babe, when did you get home?"

"About ten minutes ago. Your Mum just left, said she didn't want to wake you up."

Lily sat up and stretched. "What time is it?"

"Just after four."

Lily's eyes widened. "I've been asleep for eight hours!"

"Don't be ashamed," James laughed. "You needed it,"

"I do feel much better. Work must have been dull if your home so early."

"Yeah, no attacks to day...but I something odd did happen. I got a letter from Dumbledore, saying we wants to speak with us tonight. I already asked Sirius if he could watch Harry, and he said that would be fine."

000

At eight o'clock, James and Lily Apparated to Hogsmeade and started to walk up to Hogwarts castle. They walked in a comfortable silence, holding hands, until they reached the Headmaster's office. After they passed the stone gargoyle and went up the winding staircase, James knocked on the door.

"Come in," said Dumbledore somberly. "Welcome, please, sit." He smiled as the Potters entered his office, but it did not reach is blue eyes. James and Lily both noticed the Pensieve sitting on their former Headmaster's desk. "You both know that I have always preferred knowing the terrifying truth instead of a happy lie. And I know you feel the same." He gave a deep sigh as he looked at the young couple.

"About one month before your son was born, I conducted an interview for the post of Divination professor. I had considered discontinuing the subject all together, but as this woman, Sybil Trelawney, was the great-granddaughter of the very gifted Seer Cassandra Trelawney, I felt that I owed her a courtesy interview. But I was disappointed, this woman did not seem to have any talent in the area. As I prepared to leave, she made a real prophecy."

He waved his wand over the Pensieve as a figure of an woman with round glasses and large, magnified eyes rose from the shallow stone basin. In a horse voice, the figure said "_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives...The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born was the seventh month dies..._"

The image of Trelawney sank back into the Pensieve, leaving a horrified silence in her wake. Lily sat in the chair, gripping James's hand, staring at Dumbledore, her breathing uneven. Before Lily could even think of speaking, James said, "Wh – what exactly does that mean?"

"It means that a boy born at the end of this past July, whose parents have escaped Voldemort three times before his birth, is the only one who has a chance at defeating Voldemort." he replied.

"B–but what about marking him as an equal and ha–having a power that Voldemort doesn't know about?" Lily's voice was shaking.

"As to that, I fear that only time will hold the answer. But before we make any hasty decisions, there are some things that must be explained. This prophecy would not be a problem had it not been for one thing – one of Voldemort's Death Eaters over heard the first half, the part that talks of a boy born at the end of July whose parents have escaped Voldemort three times. From this information that he has surely passed to his master, narrows down the boys that the prophecy is referring to – Harry or Neville Longbottom. This means that Voldemort, assuming that he will act on the prophecy, must choose which boy he sees as more of a threat–"

"More of a threat!" Lily exclaimed. "Harry and Neville are only eight weeks old! How are either of them a threat!"

"But because of the prophecy, Voldemort sees them as being a threat later. He may try to – dispose – of them before they are able to fight."

Lily's face paled. "S–so Voldemort is after H–Harry?"

"Not yet, but the person who overheard the prophecy has now switched sides, and has become a spy for us. This way, if Voldemort does decide to come after Harry – or Neville – the Order will be a step ahead, and we will take the necessary precautions. And seeing as you already have quite a bit of protection on your home anyway, I do not believe any further measures must be taken...at this time, at least. Do you have any questions?"

"D–Do Alice and Frank know?" Lily asked, barely loud enough to hear.

"Yes, I met with them earlier this evening. Now, if you don't have any more questions, I suggest that you go home and get a good night's sleep."

James and Lily stood and walked over to the fireplace. Lily left first, spinning through the Floo Network, until she landed in her own fireplace. She stumbled out of the grate, dusting ash off of her robes. She saw Sirius laying on the couch, reading today's copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

"So how'd it go with Dumbledore?" he asked casually as he stood up.

Lily just looked at him...how could he act so calm when her world was falling apart?

"Lily? Are you okay?" Sirius asked, concern written on his face. Lily opened her mouth to reply, but then they heard James land in the grate.

"Where's Harry?" Lily asked Sirius as James came forward.

"He's asleep," he said, sounding confused. Without another word, Lily hurried up the stairs to check on her son.

The door to the nursery was partly open. Lily opened it quietly, but didn't turn the light on so the only light was coming from the hall. She could hear James and Sirius talking down stairs, but she didn't care...right now, all she cared about was Harry.

She leaned carefully over the crib, just watching...watching his tiny chest rise and fall. She put her hand down and touched his small palm. Still sleeping, Harry wrapped his fist around his mother's finger. Finally, the tears fell from Lily's eyes. It was too much to handle...how could this happen?

That was when she heard the floor creak. She whipped around to see James standing in the door way. He walked into the nursery and put his hand gently on Lily's shoulder.

"C'mon...let him sleep." He said softly.

Lily opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't find her voice. Instead, she nodded and let James lead her down stairs. They sat down together on the couch, Lily laid her head on James's shoulder, his arm around her waist, neither saying anything for quite some time.

Finally, Lily said, "What are we going to do?"

"Right now, there isn't much that we can do."

"Are we going to tell anyone?"

"I think we should tell Sirius, considering he's Harry's godfather...if something happens to us...he should know what he's getting into..."

She snuggled closer to James as his grip on her waist tightened. "We need to get some sleep." James said half-heartedly. "Maybe we can think of some in the morning." He made to stand, but Lily pulled him back down.

"No," she whispered in his ear. "Stay here...with me." She passionately kissed him and pulled him down to her...they both knew they weren't going anywhere for quite a while.


	33. Lies

A/N: Thanks for all your reviews! I know this chapter is short, but it's best to end it here because the next one is gonna jump ahead a bit.

Chapter 33

Lies

The next day, James and Lily invited Sirius over to explain what Dumbledore told them. While they didn't tell him the prophecy word for word, they told him that either Harry or Neville could defeat Voldemort for good. And because Voldemort knew this part of the prophecy, it put both the Potters and the Longbottoms in great danger. But being the loyal friend that he was, Sirius said that even if anything ever happened to James or Lily, he would always be there for Harry.

Later that afternoon, Lily and Harry went to see Marlene at St. Mungo's so she could hand in her resignation. Lily took one last look around the hospital, talking with her once fellow Healers. They were all sad to see her go, but were very happy for her and James.

By the time Lily and Harry returned home it was nearly five. She was about to start something for dinner, but a Ministry owl swooped in and her heart nearly stopped. Shaking slightly, Lily opened the letter. _Attack in Whales. Should be back by twelve. Love, James. _

Suddenly, Lily wasn't nearly as hungry as she was before. But, knowing that she did need to eat something, she ate an apple. She took Harry upstairs and gave him a bath (she got nearly as wet as he did) and put him in a sleeper. She sat in the rocking chair in the nursery, humming softly, and hebegan to doze off.

Then, just after Lily laid Harry in his crib, she heard a crack from down stairs. Wand drawn, she silently head down stairs, where she received a pleasant shock to see Alice, holding a very tired Neville, looking up at Lily.

She immediately lowered her wand. "Bring him up here – Harry's already asleep."

Alice smiled gratefully as she met Lily halfway up the stairs. Once she put a sound asleep Neville next to Harry, Alice and Lily made their way down stairs.

"So, I guess Frank go called in, too?" Lily asked as they sat together on the couch.

"Yeah, it was suppose to be his day off on top of it." They fell into an uncomfortable silence...both of their minds thinking of one thing...

"You know, I don't think we've seen each other since right before you went into labor...Neither of us knew what we were getting into." said Alice, a small smile on her lips.

"You mean before we heard the prophecy?" Lily said, smiling although her eyes were sad. Alice looked at her in surprise. "It just seems so – so surreal."

"I know," Alice said, her eyes shining. "And I'm sorry...I haven't seen you in so long. You're my best friend..." tears started to fall from her eyes. "But after we found out about the prophecy, I was afraid to see you. Because I was hoping that Neville wouldn't be the boy the prophecy spoke of, I was hoping that Harry was and I – I just couldn't face y–you."

By now both Lily and Alice were both sobbing. Once they had calmed down, Lily said, "that's exactly why I haven't been to see you either. And there's something else...this Sunday, we're going to have a very small baptism for Harry. We're going to name Sirius his godfather and the only witnesses are going to be Remus and Elizabeth. James and I both wanted to name you Harry's godmother, but if Harry _is _the one that the prophecy is talking about, then if something happened to me and James and Sirius, then you shouldn't have to be responsible for him...I can't put you and Frank and Neville in that kind of danger."

Alice nodded sadly. "That's exactly why you're not Neville's godmother, either."

The two friends looked at each other before they pulled one another into a hug.

"Well, I hate to interrupt, but..." Lily and Alice let go of each other and looked to see James, Sirius, and Frank all standing next to them laughing...but none of their smiles reached their eyes.

"I'll just get Neville," Alice said as she walked up the stairs. Once she returned with her son, she and Frank said their goodbyes and left.

Lily turned to James and asked, "So are you two going to tell me what happened or what?"

James and Sirius exchanged a nervous look before James said, "Josefine was killed."

Lily stared at the two men before she finally got out a hoarse, "Wh – how –"

"She was dueling with Frank," said Sirius, "One of the other Death Eater's fired the Killing Curse, missed Frank, but it hit Josefine."

Lily stared at the floor, letting it sink in. Josefine was dead...the girl that Peter had dated for so long...not very many of her friends had liked her, but she had never harmed Lily. It had been quite a shock to her when James and Sirius had discovered what she really was – a Death Eater.

"Does Peter know?" she asked, slightly choked up. "I know that they're not together anymore, but he should still know."

"We just got back from his place." said Sirius. "He was upset, but he'll be fine."

000

Peter was distraught...James and Sirius had just left, telling him that Josefine had been killed. Even worse, the way they had explained it – it sounded like it had been a complete accident.

That was when the Dark Mark on his left forearm burned. Shakingat the mere thought of having to face his Master, he Disapparated.

Lord Voldemort was standing in the center of the room. Only one other person besides Peter that was there was Severus Snape. Peter knelt on the floor and kissed the hem of the Dark Lord's robes before standing up again.

Voldemort looked down into Peter's eyes, causing him to almost collapse under the intense stare.

"You already know, then," Voldemort said quietly. Peter knew he was talking about Josefine's death.

"Y–yes my L–Lord,"

"Who told you?"

"J–James Potter and Sirius B–Black."

Voldemort's red eyes suddenly sparked. "And did they tell you _how _she was killed?"

"They s–said that she w–was hit by a–a m–missed Killing C–Curse."

"Lies," Voldemort hissed. "Potter killed Josefine"

Had Peter not been so shocked by this statement, he would have noticed Snape give Voldemort an almost questioning look.

"Wh–What?" Peter stammered.

"Potter killed her." He replied calmly. "I had ordered an attack in Whales, an those blasted Aurors turned up. Many of the other Death Eaters had said they saw Josefine dueling with Longbottom, when Potter intervened...by killing her."

Peter was in shock. How could James kill Josefine..._his_ Josefine? It couldn't be true. But even Peter knew that it was no secret that James had never liked Josefine – even before they had discovered she was a Death Eater.

"But there is something we can do..." Voldemort said in a low voice. "Severus has already started in part in this, and know it is your turn. I need all of the information you can give me on Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter.


	34. Dumbledore Trusts Him

A/N: I know, I know, I know! Its been nearly a month and a half since I last updated this story. (Shame on me.) I've started college and because I'm in the nursing program, my classes are pretty intense and I barely have enough time to study, let alone do anything else. But I'm still writing - and currently working on three stories at the same time. Sorry for the shameless plugs, but here it goes: I'm almost done with chapter 2 of A Window To The Past, and with chapter 10 of Dealing With Destiny. So they should be up late this week or next. Oh, and FYI, I don't like the title of this chapter, but I finished the actual chapter and I didn't feel like sitting around and thinking of a better one. Okay, so now that I'm done rambling, here's chapter 34! (Hoot! Woot! Hoot! Yeah! - there you go Kim and Tim!)

Dumbledore Trusts Him

July 21, 1981

It seemed hard to believe that Harry was nearly a year old. He had already taken his first steps and began to say a few words. James and Lily were in awe of their young son. They'd tell anyone who would listen about how Harry had simply stood up and walked to get his fluffy toy Snitch or how one day when James had come home from work, Harry had pointed to his father and said, "Dada!" as if he'd been saying it for years.

But as Harry had grown, so had the Order's losses. They were down to nearly half of there original number. But the death that had hit home the closest was the death of Marlene McKinnon. She, along with her husband and their young daughter, were killed by Death Eaters. Lily had been a complete wreck for the week after she had found out. Not only had Lily lost a dear friend of hers, as well as the woman who had taught her everything she knew about healing, the death of Marlene's daughter had brought up painful memories of Lindsay Ellis, memories that Lily had buried in the deep recesses of her mind.

Ever since Marlene's death it had been hard to even go to the Order meetings. But tonight, Lily's mind was on something else; why were they having this meeting? Usually, the members knew at the end of one meeting what the next was about. But Dumbledore had said nothing, only giving that mysterious smile of his whenever anyone asked.

Because the meeting took place in an actual house – Albus Dumbledore's childhood house – Lily and Alice had set up a makeshift nursery of the boys. Lily, James, and Harry had just arrived at headquarters, Lily taking Harry upstairs, meeting Alice and young Neville.

"Hey Alice," she said as she put Harry on the floor, along with a few toys. Harry almost immediately grabbed for his large stuffed snitch and began chewing on its wing.

"Can you believe they're nearly a year old?"

Lily shook her head. "It feels like they should still be infants. Harry's already started walking. It's so cute; he'll get a few steps and plop right back down."

Alice smiled. "Yeah, Neville's been doing the same thing."

"I hate to interrupt," they heard someone say from the door. They turned to see Dumbledore in the doorway, smiling at the scene. "But we will be starting soon, and I need to speak with you, Lily."

Alice and Lily kissed their sons – who where, by now, busy with their toys – and followed Dumbledore downstairs. While Alice went into the living room, where the meetings took place, Lily followed Dumbledore down the hall.

"I'm not sure if you are aware of this, Lily, but we have a new member, which is why we are having this meeting."

"Really? That's great. Who is it?"

"He was a faithful Death Eater, but has decided to join our side. Some months ago, while on an assignment from Voldemort, he – witnessed – something that altered his life, which, in turn, has altered everyone's lives. He has agreed to remain in Voldemort's inner circle – as a spy for us."

"Wow, it sounds like he'll be a great asset to the Order. But I don't understand why you're tell me and not the rest of the Order."

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "This particular person may cause a commotion among the members, in particular James and Sirius." They stopped walking next to a side room. "I was hoping that you could, for lack of a better term, soften them up. I know they will not be thrilled with the prospect of working along side this man."

"Who is it?"

Dumbledore opened the door to reveal none other than Severus Snape. He looked almost the same as Lily remembered him. Severus had the same pallid, thin face, the same hooked nose, and the same greasy hair. The only thing that was different was that he was a good six inches taller than Lily – around James's height.

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out: she was still in shock.

"Severus has been giving the Order information for quite some time. But now we feel it is best for him to officially join."

"Well, um...welcome to the Order..." Even as she said it, it sounded dumb. But what else could she say? She had gone to school with this man for seven years, and aside from the occasional taunt of calling her a Mudblood, he had never harmed her. But he had been a Death Eater. Could he have been someone under a mask that had tortured her or killed her friends?

"Well, then," Lily said, turning to Dumbledore, "I'm going to do some damage control. I'll see you later,"

As she headed down the hall and to the meeting, only one though entered her mind: James was going to freak out.

She stood at in the doorway to the living room. Everyone was still mulling around, catching up with one another. There were chairs set up in rows, but few were sitting. That was when she came up with her plan.

Lily managed to catch Remus and Alice's attention and signaled for them to come into the hall. Once they were next to Lily, Remus asked, "What's up?" as he took a drink from the glass in his hand.

"Severus Snape is joining the Order," she answered bluntly. Remus nearly choked on his drink and Alice's mouth hung open. "Apparently," Lily continued, "he's a reformed Death Eater or something. But what I'm really concerned about is James and Sirius's reactions. So if you and Frank," she pointed at Alice, "sit between James and Sirius, and you and Elizabeth," she said to Remus, "sit on Sirius's other side, and I sit on James's other side, I think we'll be able to hold them down in we need to – which we probably will."

"Wait a minute –" said Remus, "Snape is joining the Order?" Lily resisted rolling her eyes; she doubted whether he heard anything after she made that shocking statement.

"Dumbledore said that he's been a spy for us for a while, and now he's officially joining the Order."

"Maybe it would be safer," Alice said, "to just sent James and Sirius home." Remus nodded in agreement.

"I couldn't agree more," said Lily, "but let's just try my idea first, then we'll do that."

They went into the main room shortly before Dumbledore entered. The Order took their seats, according to Lily's plan. She also figured it would be better – well, safer, at any rate – if they sat toward to back of the room.

As usual, Dumbledore stood at the front of the room, and silence fell. "Tonight's meeting is going to be a short one," he began. "The main purpose is to introduce to all of you a new member." Lily could feel her pulse beat faster. "For the past eleven months, he has been a great asset to our cause, though none of you have known it. While he has been spying of Voldemort's inner circle, we had decided that it was best for him to remain anonymous. The information he has given has helped prevent many attacks." As Dumbledore motioned for him to come in, Lily gently squeezed her husband's hand.

Severus Snape walked in and some whispering occurred between the Order members. Lily gave James a nervous glance. He let out a small laugh, as though this whole thing was a joke. He looked at Sirius. Lily could practically see James's mind working. _Did Padfoot set this up,_ he was surely thinking. But when he realized that this was not a joke, his eyes widened and his mouth hung open.

For the next few minutes, the rest of the Order continued to talk about various Death Eater plans, but Lily paid very little attention – she was too busy shooting nervous glances at James and Sirius and exchanging cautious looks with Remus and Alice.

Finally, when the meeting was adjourned, their group pushed James and Sirius out of the room as quickly as possible.

"James, why don't you go get Harry and we'll head home."

"Lily –"

"Please, James," she said, almost begging. He nodded and went to get their son. "Good," she sighed quietly to Remus. "Now we only have Sirius to worry about...for now."

"Well," said Sirius, trying to sound casual. "I think I'm going to talk to Dumbledore."

He took a step toward the living room where Dumbledore – and Snape – had still not emerged before Remus and Lily grabbed the back of his robes and Remus said, "Oh, no you don't," as they pulled him back.

"If your going to bitch about Snape, don't do it here," Lily said. "Dumbledore trusts him, so just because you don't like him doesn't mean that he's not invaluable to the Order."

Sirius looked like he was going to reply, but thought better of it and stayed silent.

James came down the stairs with Harry, who was resting his head on his father's shoulder and sucking his thumb. That was when Dumbledore and Snape came into the hall. Lily noticed that Severus had been glaring at James, but paled considerably when his dark eyes fell upon Harry. Was it because Harry looked so much like James, his mortal enemy? Or was it something else?...

But she didn't have time to think on it; Harry's small hand reached out to her and she took him into her arms. "It's way past your bedtime, sweetie," she said softly. As they left, with Sirius in toe, Lily smiled at Dumbledore and Snape as she past. While Dumbledore smiled back, Snape's eyes never left the young boy in her arms.

She left the house and walked into the night – with James, Sirius, Remus and Elizabeth close behind. But she stopped when she saw what was in front of her.

"Who's motorcycle is that?" she asked.

"That's mine," Sirius said proudly. "I just got it today." He walked over to the motorcycle and threw one leg over it. "And it flies, too."

"No way!" James said excitedly as he went to examine his friend's new toy.

"Isn't that illegal?" Remus asked as Lily and Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"Only if you get caught," he smiled with a wink.

Lily rolled her eyes as she carefully adjusted Harry. "Just don't expect me to bail you out of Azkaban."

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it Lils; but I am expecting James to."

"Well, I'd better get him to bed." Lily said, nodding towards her sleeping son. Then she turned to James. "Are you coming?"

James tore his eyes away form the motorcycle and towards his wife and son. "Yeah,"

They bid their friends goodnight and Apparated home. Harry immediately began to cry – he apparently did not like Apparating. James took Harry from her, and after a bit of calming him, Harry settled down. Lily resisted the urge to glare at her husband.

"Do you want me to put him down?" James asked.

"No, I'll do it – Sirius will probably be over at any time to discuss the newest Order member."

James kissed his son goodnight and gave him back to Lily. Luckily, by the time she and Harry were half way up the stairs, his head was sleepily dropped onto her shoulder. Lily changed harry into a sleeper and laid hi in his crib. Nearly as soon as Harry's head hit his tiny pillow, he was fast asleep. For a few moments, Lily watched her son sleep, noting how, as each day past, he looked more and more like James.

As she stood to leave, she heard a low rumbling from outside. She went to the window and saw Sirius land on her front lawn with that ridiculous flying motorcycle. Shaking her head, she drew that curtains in the nursery closed and headed down stairs.

"This is total bullshit," was the first thing she heard from Sirius as she entered the living room.

"Tell me about it," James replied. "Of all people – it had to be him."

"I don't buy that 'reformed Death Eater' story for one minute." Sirius said, pacing in front of the fireplace. "Old Snivellus must had told Dumbledore a pretty good story for him to get into the Order."

James turned to Lily and asked, "Dumbledore said that Snape's a spy for the Order, right?"

Lily nodded. "He said that Snape's been giving the him information for months."

"How do we know that Voldemort sent him to spy on the Order?" James said.

"Yeah!" said Sirius. "They could have made up the whole, 'I'm sorry, I want to join the good guys' story and Snape's _really_ giving the Death Eaters information on us!"

"But Dumbledore trusts him." Lily said, sounding exasperated. "And if he trust's him, we have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt." She sighed. "What else can we do?"


	35. Loss

A/N: Alright, we're getting close to the end, which makes me very sad. I've planned the last few chapters, and it looks like I've only got three more to go (tear slides down face). But I want to ask my fabulous readers something...what do you guys think about the whole "was Voldemort really alone when he attacked the Potters" debate. If you don't know what I'm talking about, some people think that maybe Peter or Snape were there on that infamous Halloween night. Let me know what you think...I may apply it later in the story. Thanks to everyone that reviewed, and who will review. Oh, yeah, and Happy Halloween (or Happy Samhain, what ever you prefer)!

Chapter 35

Loss

_October 14, 1981_

Remus slowly opened his eyes, pain slowly flooding his body; he hated the full moon. He was lying in his bed, starting at the ceiling, having no idea how he got there. He though back to last night...he hardly remembered a thing. He wasn't surprised – he usually didn't remember much of his transformations unless James, Sirius and Peter were there. Remus had told James he didn't need to come after Harry was born, for he had much more important things to worry about. Sirius still came when he didn't have to work, which hadn't happened in nearly six months, and he could hardly remember the last time he had seen Peter.

It was then that he noticed that Elizabeth was not there. Not that this was surprising – judging by how much light was coming through the window, it was sometime around noon and she would be at work. Gingerly, he sat up at the side of his bed. Damn, his shoulder was killing him. Slowly he stood and partially limped into the bathroom. He turned as he looked into the mirror to better see the numerous bruises and cuts on his back.

After a hot shower, he went back to his bedroom and got dressed. He thought he would read the _Daily Prophet _and lay on the couch until Elizabeth came home. But as he entered the living room, all thoughts of a lazy day vanished.

Tables were upturned, picture frames lay shattered, and there was even a hole in the wall and a broken window. Remus stared at the wreck of the living room and fell his mouth fell open. How could he have not noticed this when he got home this morning? Before he could think of what had happened, one thought penetrated his numb mind – where was Elizabeth?

000

Remus Apparated into the Ministry and nearly ran to the lift. After what seemed like hours, he finally got to level five. When he reached the Department of International Magical Cooperation, he almost collided with the main secretary's desk.

"Can I help you?" The blonde secretary asked kindly.

Trying not to sound to panicked, Remus asked, "Is Elizabeth Lupin here?"

The secretary looked through a few papers before saying, "No, she's not. Didn't even call in this morning. Would you like to leave a–" but when she looked up, Remus was gone.

000

James tossed his quill on the desk and leaned back in his chair. He had been catching up on his paper work nearly all day and – aside from having a cramp in his right hand – was extremely bored. He look around and was surprised to see Remus practically running towards him.

"What's–"

"Elizabeth's gone,"

"What?!"

Remus filled James in on everything that had happened this morning. James looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, "Follow me." Together, they grabbed Sirius – who was only a few cubicles away – and went to Moody's office. There, Remus retold Sirius and Moody what he had told James.

"Black, send an owl to Dumbledore, let him know what's happened. Meet up at Lupin's." Moody said. Sirius nodded and left the office. "We'll go now and see what's happened. This will need to be kept as quiet as possible for now. Have you told anyone but us?"

"No," Remus replied.

"Good," Moody growled. "Let's head over now."

Once James, Remus, and Moody had arrived at Remus's house, the two Aurors began going through the wreckage, performing various spell that began to give them a vague picture of what happened, while Remus hung in the background nervously. Shortly after they had arrived, Sirius came as well.

After what felt like hours to Remus, they had finished and Moody spoke to him. "It looks like there were three – maybe four – Death Eaters her sometime after midn–" but he stopped mid– sentence when an owl flew through the broken window. Moody took the note, both normal and magical eyes zooming across the parchment.

He gave a deep sigh. "They found her," he said quietly as Remus held his breath. "I'm sorry Remus, but she was already dead."

Remus turned away form them, his eyes welling with tears. James took the letter and read it himself, his face fearful for his friend by the time he finished.

"Moony," he said carefully. "Where did you go last night?"

Remus looked up at him. "S–Somewhere in Scotland."

James nearly sighed in relief. "They found Elizabeth near Bristol."

"Why would it matter where I was last night?"

He hated to be the one to tell Remus – but he had to know. "It was a werewolf attack, Remus." he said quietly.

Remus's face hardened as he stared at the floor, losing himself in his mind.

000

It was fairly late by the time James got home. Lily was waiting up for him and looking very worried. But one look at his face and her worry nearly tripled.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Elizabeth is dead." Lily looked as though she had been slapped. "They kidnaped her last night, somehow took her to a forest outside of Bristol, where she was attacked by a werewolf and – quite literally – ripped apart."

Lily sank onto the couch as her hand flew to her mouth, tears beginning to fall down her face. Suddenly, her head snapped up to look at James fearfully. "Remus isn't a suspect, is he?"

"No – he was in a different part of the country. But to be perfectly honest, the only reason he isn't a suspect is because he came to and Moody first." James heaved a great sigh and sat next to Lily, looking worse for wear. "Is Harry asleep?"

Something of a smile came upon Lily's face. "Yeah, and it's about time too, he only fell asleep half and hour ago."

"I'm going to bed. You coming?"

"Yeah," Lily said sadly.

But before they could even make it to the stairs, they heard a knock on the door. James and Lily tensed. He pulled out his wand and opened the door, but relaxed when he saw it was Moody.

"Come in Mad–Eye," James said ushering him inside. "Did you find out something else about Elizabeth?"

"No, I'm actually here to see Lily." Moody turned towards the redhead. "Your mother's house burned down early this morning – she didn't make it."

Lily's mind went blank over the next few minutes. Somewhere in the haze, she distantly heard Moody and James talk briefly, Moody leaving, and James guiding her back to the living room. When she felt the back of her knees graze against the couch, she sunk down on it, staring blankly ahead.

"Lily?" James said cautiously.

"I need to let my sister know," she said, though, to her, it sounded as though someone else were saying it.

"She already does...Moody says that she's already set the date of the funeral for Tuesday."

Lily stared ahead for a few more seconds before she began to sob uncontrollably on James's chest.

000

The next morning, Lily was able to hold herself together long enough to ask James exact what Moody had said the night before. He said the Muggle police were the first there, so they were able to contact Petunia. Later, the Ministry found traces of magic in the remains of the house, so they suspect it was a caused by Death Eaters. After making the connection that it was Lily's mother who died, Moody did a bit more poking around and found out that Petunia had already made the funeral arrangements.

Lily went to her mother's funeral alone, despite all of James's protests. She was grateful that he wanted to be there to support her, but she felt that it would be better if he stayed with Harry. The funeral home was the same one that Lily's father had been at, so when she stepped into the building, painful memories rushed back.

Trying her best not to draw any attention to herself, Lily quietly approached the closed casket. There was a picture of the Evans family. Lily thought that it was one of the last of all four of them together – she looked to be about sixteen in the portrait. She said a silent prayer as tears fell down her cheeks.

As she turned towards the back of the room, Lily saw her sister. Petunia had not changed much since she had last seen her those few years ago; she was still thin, boney, and had that long, almost horse–like face. But she almost did not recognize the two people with her. Vernon had gained quiet a few extra pounds and his mustache was much bushier. The large woman with them had to be Vernon's sister, Marge, though she was much rounder than Lily remembered as well.

It was then that she noticed Petunia holding a baby boy. This must be Dudley, the nephew she had only seen in pictures that her mother had. He had a patch of dirty blonde hair on his round head, very much the same color of his mother's, and even though Dudley was only a little over a month older than her own son, he was looked heavier.

For one fleeting moment, Lily wanted to approach Petunia and scream about why she hadn't had the decency to tell her that their mother had died. But the feeling past, Petunia looked as miserable as Lily felt and didn't want to add to it. So instead, she made her way to the back of room and sat by herself during the service, though she could have sworn a few of the mourners may have recognized her as the younger Evans daughter.

000

Although it was well past midnight, Albus Dumbledore was waiting for a visitor. Severus had told him that their was a Death Eater meeting tonight and Albus was waiting for information. He heard a soft knock and said, "Enter." Not surprising, it was the young Potions Master who entered.

"Did he choose?" Dumbledore asked solemnly.

"Yes," Snape replied. "He's going after the Potter boy, though he did mention killing Longbottom soon after."

"But he will be attacking Harry first?"

"Yes,"

Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"Is he attacking tonight?"

"No, but he will be soon."

"Thank you, Severus."

Snape nodded briefly and left. Dumbledore ran his long fingers over his face...he had a feeling it would come down to this. Part of him wanted to set out for James and Lily's home this instant, but he held back...he thought they deserved at least one more good night's sleep.


	36. Godric's Hollow

A/N: I can't believe I only have two more chapters to go! (tear.) thanks to everyone who has (and hopeful will) review!

Chapter 36

Godric's Hollow

It had not been a good week, Lily reflected as she played with her son. What with the deaths of both her mother and one of her best friends, Lily felt much other than she was. Yesterday had been Elizabeth's funeral, and one of the longest days of her life. But more than anything else, she felt terrible for Remus, who, at the age of twenty–one, was a widower. He had suffered so much from his lycanthropy and now with the added death of his wife – from a werewolf attack no less – on top of this, Lily was surprised that he was even holding himself together. But this worried her the most. Remus had always been the most reserved of the Marauders, but she was afraid that he was going to seclude himself from his friends. Lily wanted to give him some time to grieve, but if she had to, she would check on him every day to make sure he didn't lose his mind.

Lily scooped her son up, set him on her hip and went into the kitchen to make some tea. She gazed out of the window, watching the last of the autumn leaves float to the ground as she sipped from her cup.

She carried her cup and Harry back into the living room and watched her son play for a while longer until James came home, looking very troubled about something.

"Did something happen?"

James sighed. "Dumbledore is coming over in about an hour, and whatever he has to say doesn't sound good."

Lily felt as though something was crushing her chest. "Does it have to do with the prophecy?" she breathed.

"I don't know...he didn't say hardly anything in the letter."

Harry teetered over to his father, lifted his hands in the air and said, "Dada!"

Some of the worry and fear written so plainly on James's handsome features seemed to ebb away slightly as he lifted Harry onto his lap.

The next hour was quite possibly one of the pain staking in her life. It seemed like hundreds of terrifying scenarios ran through her mind in such a small amount of time, that when they heard their former Headmaster knock on the front door, Lily was visibly shaking. James set Harry in her lap and answered the door.

"Good evening James, Lily," he said as he shook their hands. "And of course, young Harry, as well." Harry looked up at Dumbledore, a look of awe on his small face.

"To what do we owe this pleasure, Professor," Lily asked kindly, trying her best to stay calm.

Dumbledore's features became suddenly somber. "I am afraid that I have some terrible news." he ran his long fingers over his face, looking older than Lily ever remembered him. "Lord Voldemort had decided to act upon the prophecy. I believe it would be safest for the three of you to go into hiding as soon as possible."

"S–so he thinks Harry is the one it was talking about?" asked James.

"Yes,"

Lily felt as though the walls were closing in on her – on her family.

"What do you suggest we do?" James asked helplessly.

"I know of a small village that – with the proper precautions – should be perfect. It's called Godric's Hollow."

"_Godric's _Hollow?" Lily asked. "As in Godric Gryffindor?"

"Just the same. He founded the town when Hogwarts was merely a dream. In fact, some of the school's first students came from this very village.

"Soon after I told you and the Longbottoms of the prophecy's contents, I secured a piece of property in Godric's Hollow, incase this should happen. And, of course, there is the Fidelius Charm."

Lily's head perked up. _Maybe we have a chance after all._

"What is that?" James asked.

"The Fidelius Charm is a complicated spell that involved the magical concealment of a secret – in this case, your address – inside a single, living soul, known as the Secret–Keeper. The only way that anyone could find you location is if the Secret–Keeper told them."

"It sounds perfect." Lily said.

"And also," Dumbledore continued. "I would like to offer myself as your Secret–Keeper."

"Thank you very much, but we couldn't possibly ask you to do that." James said.

"Then, if you do not mind me saying, please chose carefully. From the information that I have, there is a spy within the Order."

James and Lily's eyes met for a moment before he answered, "Sirius. He'd rather die than betray us."

Dumbledore nodded knowingly. He drew out a small piece of parchment and handed it to James. "This is the address of the cottage in Godric's Hollow." He reached into his robes again, this time extracting a longer, rolled scroll, which he handed to Lily. "These are step by step instruction to preforming the Fidelius Charm, written by myself and Professor Flitwick. If I recall properly, you received an 'Outstanding' on your N.E.W.T. in Charms, Lily. You should have no problem performing it." Lily blushed slightly from his praise.

Dumbledore stood. "Good luck, all three of you." He smiled as he shook James and Lily's hands and patted Harry on the head. He left, somehow knowing, deep in his heart, it would be the last time he would ever see James or Lily again...

000

Sirius landed his motorcycle in front of James and Lily's home. Luckily, it was just before sunrise so none of the neighboring Muggles would be able to see his flying bike. He had received a message from James, telling him to come over at five a.m. Just as he reached the door, James was already there to open it. "Come on in." he said as he ushered his best friend inside.

Sirius was surprised by what he saw. The handsome furniture that had once inhabited the interior was now gone, and in their place were dozens of cardboard boxes with things like 'kitchen', 'Harry's room', and 'living room' written on their sides.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked.

"We're moving," James replied. "Me and Lily have been up all night getting everything packed, and we're nearly done."

"Hey Sirius," Lily said as she came down the stairs.

"Well where in the hell are you guys going?"

James and Lily exchanged glances before they led Sirius into the kitchen, where they explained where they were moving and why.

"So Voldemort's after Harry?" Sirius summed up.

"Yes," Lily said.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Actually," James said, "There is. We're not just moving, Dumbledore suggested we use the Fidelius Charm. What we do – actually, what Lily will do – is magically conceal our location within an Secret–Keeper, and the only way anyone can find us is if our Secret–Keeper tells someone." Sirius nodded in understanding. James took a deep breath and continued, "We were wondering if _you_ would be our Secret–Keeper."

"Of course," Sirius replied immediately.

James was momentarily speechless. "Thanks, mate,"

Sirius clapped his best friend's shoulder. "I'd do anything for you guys."

For the first time since she and James had heard the prophecy, Lily felt secure. She knew that as long as Sirius was their Secret–Keeper, her family would be safe.

000

"Are you ready?"

Lily took one last look around their now empty home. "Yeah." she sighed. Picking up Harry, they Disapparated. As she comforted a screaming Harry – he hated Apparition – she took in the cottage. With only one floor, it was smaller than their own home, but cozy nevertheless.

After Lily finally got Harry settled down, she and James set up his playpen while they began to unpack. An hour later, they heard a knock on the door.

When they went to answer it, they were surprised to see that Sirius wasn't alone. Peter was standing beside him.

"Wormtail," James said dumbly. "What you doing here?"

"James – I've just had a brilliant idea!" Sirius said excitedly as he and Peter entered. "Use Peter as your Secret–Keeper instead of me."

"What?" James and Lily replied.

"Just think about it," Sirius continued. "It's perfect! James, everyone knows that we're best friends, and if the Voldemort," they all ignored Peters gasp and shudder, "finds out that you guys are using the Fidelius Charm then it's obvious that you'd have me as your Secret–Keeper. They'd come and find me and probably force Veritaserum down my throat or something to make me tell them your location. But if Peter's the _real_ Secret–Keeper, you be safe no matter what happens to me."

"Sirius," Lily said, "that's putting yourself in an awful lot off danger for nothing,"

"But as long as you two and Harry are safe, it doesn't matter."

Lily looked at James, who seemed convinced.

"I don't know..." she said worriedly.

"He's right," James said. "It's the perfect bluff."

"I–I'll go into hiding a–as well," Peter finally spoke up.

"Yeah," Sirius said. "He can just transform...no one but us knows that he's an Animagus."

"Remus knows." Lily countered. "Shouldn't we tell him?"

"If anyone else knows, you're in even more danger." Sirius said. "They could easily go after Remus as well as me."

Lily looked from Sirius, to Peter, to James. It was clear that they all believed this was going to work...

"Alright," she sighed. "Let's do it."


	37. Halloween

A/N: After some serious consideration, I decided that this is the last chapter (tear). I hope you guys enjoyed the story! Evenutally, I'm going to go back and revise it, but right now I'm going to concentrate on my other two and start a knew one. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I 3 you all! Oh, and I've rewritten the last part of chapter 3, go and check it out!

Okay, I guess I've stalled enough...here is the final chapter of Come What May...

Chapter 37

October 31, 1981

She had felt uneasy all day. She couldn't tell anyone – not even James – exactly why, but something just wasn't right. Perhaps it was the mere fact that they were in hiding. Yet she had not had this uneasy feeling when they had performed the Fidelius Charm just over a week ago, so why would she have it now?

But aside from this uneasy feeling that had decided to spring up, she had never felt more safe – more secure – since the war had begun. And in some ways, life was better this way. At least now didn't have to worry about James never coming home from work. Their family was together and safe. Not to mention of course, she and James had a lot more time for themselves as well.

Lily collapsed on his chest, both of them breathing heavy. They laid there for a while, her head on his chest, his arms wrapped around her, not saying a word...because none needed to be said.

Finally, James broke the silence. "I love you,"

Lily looked up and smiled. "I love you too."

Their lips were almost touching when they heard Harry begin to cry.

James sighed as Lily laughed.

"Can't have a moment's peace, can't we?" he said as they got dressed.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Lily asked her son in a baby voice that she automatically spoke in whenever she talked to him.

Fat tears continued to spill from his brilliant green eyes. She lifted him out of his crib and he immediately stopped crying. Lily sighed to herself as she and Harry went to meet James in the living room.

"Everything alright?" James asked as they sat next to him.

She nodded, smoothing out Harry's little tuft of black hair, "He was just lonely."

"I meant you." Lily looked at him. "You've been acting odd all day."

"Oh yes, James," she said sarcastically, "aside from the fact that we're in hiding because Voldemort is after our son, everything's fine."

He cupped her face in his hand. "We are perfectly safe here," James said calmly.

"I know, but something just doesn't feel right."

Harry was struggling to escape from his mother. James took him off of Lily's lap and set him on the floor. He teetered over to a few of his toys, flopped down, and began to gnaw on one of his stuffed toys.

Lily smiled to herself as she leaned against James, who wrapped his arms around her waist.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed like this, but just as she was starting to doze off, James suddenly sat upright.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"I thought I heard something." The fear in his voice was enough to instantly wake her up.

"It's probably just some kids messing around – it _is _Halloween." But Lily was trying to convince her self as much as she was James.

He stood and walked toward the kitchen to get a better view of the front yard. Lily glanced back at Harry, who was still playing on the floor, before she followed her husband. By the time she got to the kitchen, he was pulling back the curtains to peer out the window.

"It's him."

"_Wh–what?_" Lily could feel her blood run cold.

James, extremely pale, quickly turned to her as he withdrew his wand. "You have to get out of he–"

"I can't just leave you!" she cried out as tears fell from her eyes.

There was a loud blast. James and Lily stumbled back and the heard Harry begin to cry.

There was a gaping hole where the front door had previously stood. Beyond that, a tall figure was walking closer, with unmistakable scarlet red eyes.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off–"

Lily stumbled over the wreckage and back to the living room as the unmistakable sounds of battle ringing through the house. She lifted Harry into her arms, trying to calm him. She looked around for some means of escape when she heard Voldemort scream, "_Avada Kedavra!_"

She saw the bright green light of death and heard something fall to the ground – she knew it was James.

Lily held Harry tightly to her chest, her tears spilling on to his black hair. She heard someone enter the room. With terror filling every inch of her, she looked up to see Lord Voldemort, his wand raised and pointing – not at Lily – but Harry.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Lily sobbed.

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside now..." Voldemort sneered.

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead–" she continued to sob. She knew it was the end, and that there was nothing she could do about it. "Not Harry, please...have mercy...have mercy..."

Voldemort gave a cold cruel laugh that made Lily's spine as Harry screamed louder.

He raised his wand higher and shouted, "_Avada Kedavra!_" She screamed as she turned her back to shield Harry. Even though her eyes were closed, the green light penetrated her eye lids.

There was no pain. There was just the sound of something rushing towards her as life flew from her body. Lily was dead before she fell to the floor.

Harry sat next to his mother, his crying had finally stopped. Why wasn't she moving? He placed a tiny hand on her arm. "Mama," he said as he lightly tapped his arm. He heard the Scary Man laugh again, causing him to relapse into a fit of tears.

"And to think..." Voldemort hissed, "you were to be my demise. Goodbye, Harry Potter."

And for the third time that night, the Dark Lord raised his wand to kill. "_Avada Kedavra!_"

But as the jet of green light made contact with the child's forehead, something unexpected happened. A white light surrounded the boy; it was so bright that Voldemort stumbled back, shielding his eyes. Around him, the Potters home began to collapse. As the brightness dimmed, a jet of green light was now flying at Voldemort. Before he could react, it hit his chest. He screamed in agony as he was ripped away from his body.

Harry sat next to the body of his mother, his brilliant green eyes staring though the gaping in the ceiling. The cool night air helped to numb the angry, lightning–shaped cut on his forehead.


End file.
